, ^mistical Vindication
OF THE
City of London.
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Statistical Vindication
OF THE
dig nf feitbnn;
FALLACIES EXPLODED AND FIGURES EXPLAINED.
" There is another mode of error in the employment oe arguments ok
analogy, more propkrly deserving the name of fallacy ; namely, whew
resemblance in one point is inferrfd from resemblance in another point,
though there ip not only no evidence to connect the two circum8tance8 by
way of causation, but1 the evidence tends positively to disconnect them.
This is properly the FALLACY OF FALSE ANALOGIES."— Mill's "System of
Logic," vol. ii., p. 366.
BY
BENJAMIN SCOTT, F.R.A.S.
•»i
&I)irb drbilion.
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1877.
London :
Pkinted by Simmons & Botten, Shoe Lane, E.C.
PREFACE TO FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS.
The writer of the following pages having recently been
called to assist in obtaining a Day Census of the Popu-
lation of the City of London, and to prepare some
Statistical information connected with and growing out
of that Census, his attention was arrested by the absurd
fallaciousness of the reasonings founded upon the figures
of the Imperial Census, as applied to the exceptional
case of the City of London. He was thus induced to
treat, statistically, the subject of the relative importance
of the City to the rest of the Metropolis, having regard
to the discussions which are inevitable in relation to the
future of London.
The views set forth are his own, and not necessarily
those of any member, or of any section of the Corporation
with which he is officially connected j — indeed, with the
exception of the Tables, some of which were prepared for
the Corporation, no page of the work has been seen by
any member of that body.
It was not originally intended to treat of Crime and
IV PREFACE.
Police ; but the provocation afforded by the introduction
of the letter of Sir Richard Mayne, to the Select Com-
mittee of the House of Commons on Local Government
and Taxation — as stated in Chapter V. — and the printing
of that letter by the House of Commons — rendered it
impossible to avoid reference to those topics.
The writer cannot hope that a work so full of figures-
— compiled amidst the incessant distraction of official en-
gagements— should be perfectly free from error; but he
trusts that it may be found helpful to any who may be
called to tread the thorny paths of Metropolitan Statistics ;
and prove an encouragement to those who — desiring to
bring the wisdom of the past to the aid of the necessities
of the present — would create in London, Municipal Insti-
tutions based upon popular representation, improved by
the intelligence of modern times ; as affording better
security for efficient Local Administration than the cen-
tralizing government of despotic States.
London, January, i86j.
PKEPACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
Repeated inquiry for this work, since the Second Edition
was exhausted, has induced the issue of a third, which is
in substance a reprint of the earlier editions.
Had the leisure and strength at my disposal permitted,
it might have been desirable to have recalculated the whole
of the figures on the basis of the last Imperial Census,
and to have brought down the consideration of the whole
question to the present date. This, however, was incom-
patible with the performance of engrossing and very
responsible official duties. Besides, the Imperial Census
of 1 871 having provided for no day Census of the City
(as had been suggested in the earlier editions of this work),
to have recalculated the figures on the basis of 187 1 would
have involved the taking of another day Census at a
considerable expense to the Corporation. The only
figures, therefore, appertaining to the present year are
those of the Rateable Values of the City and the various
districts of the Metropolis (Appendices V. and VI.), and
a few results, deduced from the figures of Appendix V.;
the information contained in Appendix VI. came to hand
while the following sheets were in the press — too late for
anything but supplemental insertion.
VI PREFACE.
There is, however, a reason, apart from my convenience,
why the figures relating to Crime and Police, as they
stand in the earlier editions, should not be varied or recast.
The assault, by the late Sir Richard Mayne, upon the
City Police, as it regarded its cost and efficiency, and his
absurd and fallacious comparisons between Crime in the
Citv and in the Metropolis respectively — dignified as
they had been by insertion in a Parliamentary Report —
have not been repeated since the appointment of the
present judicious and efficient head of the Metropolitan
Police. The figures relating to this subject remain, there-
fore, precisely as in the earlier editions, as a standing
refutation of grossly false and calumnious statements,
which had, most improperly, found their way into a docu-
ment printed by authority. Had these ludicrous statements
been only approximately correct, the question of the popu-
lation of the City would have been exceedingly simplified,
as that population must have long since disappeared before
the knife of the assassin, and the vindication of the
outraged majesty of the Law.
But though the figures in the following pages have not
been brought down to the immediate present, the argument
remains the same, or strengthened rather by the vast
increase, since 1866, in the rateable value of the City ;
which, so far from becoming decayed and depopulated, as
certain fallacy-mongers had predicted, is trying and testing
to the utmost the powers of its local authorities to keep
pace with and provide for the augmentation of its trade,
the ever-increasing throng of its frequenters, and the flow
of traffic through its streets.
PREFACE. Vll
Whether the Census of 1861 or of 1871 be appealed
to, the main proposition remains unanswered and un-
answerable, viz., that the nocturnal Census — taken for
public convenience when the City is deserted — forms no
sufficient measure of its population or relative importance,
and that, consequently, to rest any argument on such a
basis is, and must be, fallacious, and that to confer fiscal
or other representation upon such data must produce
inequitable results.
The figures resulting from the nocturnal Census of
1 86 1, would be found generally repeated by those of the
enumeration of 1871, for no alteration of the system took
place in reference to the gathering of that Census. Hence
the necessity of keeping the facts before the public.
It must ever be borne in mind that the enumeration of
trades and occupations deduced from the Census returns
in 1 86 1, gave inter alia the following results, as shown in
the succeeding pages : —
Only 356 Merchants out of nearly 6,000, 9 Ba?ikers
out of 263, and 33 Brokers out of 3,297 actually
carrying on business within the City — being just one in
one hundred — were credited to the City. Thus, while
in a City whose Custom dues more than equalled those
of the whole Empire, and whose Trading Income Tax
exceeded that of the whole of the remainder of the
Metropolis, there were found only 356 Merchants, 9
Bankers, and S3 Brokers, there were found in the
City, on the night of the Census, 44 Farmers (being 1
farmer to every 16 acres), 3 Farm Bailiffs, 23 Gardeners,
6 Fishermen, and 1 Shepherd ; placing it, as viewed in
the mirror of the midnight Census, at the head of the
agricultural districts of the Empire, as it regards faci-
Vlll PREFACE.
lities for the cultivation of its soil. One apprentice
only figured in the Census of the renowned city of
Whittington, whereas over 3,000 were under indenture
at that date, of whom 148 were actually employed in
the establishments in the City in which the Census
tables were printed. {Vide, Chapter II.)
The population, according to the mode
adopted of taking the Census in the night,
was found to be 113,387
But, by the day census, the residents in the
day time were found to be 283,520
The number of persons resorting to the City
daily in 16 hours — being Clerks, Clients,
and Customers (not included in the above
residents), were found to be 509,61 1
The total number of residents and those re-
sorting to the City daily, in a day of 16
hours, were 679,744
The total number of ditto in a day of 24 hours,
were 728,986
These figures were on the increase in 1867, and must
have augmented since that date, as is shown by the increas-
ing difficulty experienced in maintaining the uninterrupted
flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic within the City.
The reasons above stated have also induced the
omission, in the following pages, of allusion to the Bills
introduced into Parliament since the publication of the
first edition of this work, by the late Mr. Charles Buxton
and Lord Elcho respectively, in reference to the Municipal
Government of the Metropolis.
B. S.
London, March, i8jf.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Pi
Decadence of the City ; Its Merchant Princes myths, p. i' — Its
Diminishing and Criminal Population, 2 — Official Authorities to
that effect ; Reports of Commissions of Inquiry, 3 — Press Authority
to that Effect ; Report of Sir Richard Mayne to Sir George Grey
(1863), 4 — An Apparent Paradox ; Increase of the Rateable
Annual Value of the City, 5 — Contrasted Elements of the
Paradox ; Population, Houses, Trade, Religion, Education and
Police, 6 — Perversity of the Argument, 7 — True Statistics
Vindicated ; The Abuse of Statistics, 8 — A Sanitary Blunder ;
Alleged Drunkenness of the City, 9 — The City at the Head of
Everything, Good and Bad ; The Task Undertaken, 10— Arrange-
ment of Subsequent Chapters, 11 I-
CHAPTER II.
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE CITY TO THE REST OF THE
METROPOLIS — TESTED BY ITS POPULATION.
Districts of the Metropolitan Area, 12 — Their Population and Rate-
able Value, 13 — Great Importance of Kensington ; Explosion
of the Kensington Fallacies, 15 — Sleeping Population of the
City ; It is not Decreasing " Year by Year," 16 — What is
an Inhabitant? Where do People Live? 17 — Where do the
Citizens Live? 18 — Their Diurnal Oscillation, 19 — They are
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Rated Occupiers in the City ; They are there Taxed, 20 —
When Awake they Reside in the City ; The Census Enumerates
them Elsewhere, 21 — The Fallacy of Depopulation; Some of
its Absurd Results ; Customs' Duties Paid by City Merchants,
22 — Deceptiveness of the Census, 23 — Inferential Criminality
of the Citizens ; Their Rural, Pastoral, and Agricultural
Character, 24 — Analysis of the Census Population; The City
Fishermen ; The City Apprentice, 25— Commercial Men of
the City found by Census in the Metropolis, 26— City Men
found in the Country, 27 — Commercial Men Sleeping in the
City, 28 — Residences of the Members of the Corporation, 29
— The Brokers of the City ; Necessity for a Day Census, 30 —
Fallaciousness of a Night Census, 31 — Testimonies to that
Effect, 32 — Totals of the City Day Census, 33 — Increasing
Traffic in the City, 34 — Improved Means of Transit Necessary ;
The Streets of the City not Deserted, 35 — Immense Daily
Invasion of the City, 36— Decrease of Nocturnal Population
in Westminster and in Districts instanced, 37 — Parishes with
Decreased Nocturnal Population— not Necessarily of Diminished
Importance, 38 . . . 12 — 38
CHAPTER III.
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE CITY — TESTED BY THE NUMBER
AND VALUE OF ITS HOUSES.
Assumed Decrease of Inhabited Houses, 40 — Assumed Desolation of
the City; Measured by Cities, 41 — Further Instances of
Assumed Desolation ; Measured by Parishes and Districts of the
Metropolis, 42 — Measured by Boroughs Returning Members to
Parliament ; Its Effect on the Value of Property ; Increased
Value of Decreased Number of Houses, 43 — A Network of
Fallacies ; Common Measure of the Value of a House, 44 —
Disparity in the Value of Houses, 45 — Their Relative Value ;
Their Rental Quality, 46 — Relative Number of Houses by the
Common Measure ; Districts in their Order of Relative Number,
47 — Displacement not Diminution, 48 — Improvement not
Destruction ; Great Outlay by Corporation and Others in City
Improvements, 49 — Uninhabited-House Fallacy, 50 — Houses
TABLE OF CONTENTS. M
PAGE
Occupied, Assessed and Rated deemed Uninhabited ; Left in
Charge of the Police, 51 — How Described by Registrar-General,
52— Decadence of the City purely Imaginary, 53 . . 39- 53
CHAPTER IV.
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE CITY— DETERMINED BY ITS
RATEABLE VALUE and the magnitude of its COMMERCE
and TRADE.
Increase in the City's Rateable Value, 55 — Ratios of Increase since
1771, 56— Rateable Vahle resulting from Increased Commerce;
Fish, Meat, Poultry, Corn and Coal Markets, 57 — Customs'
Duties of London, 58— In Excess of those of all the rest of the
Kingdom, 59 — Relative rise of other Ports, 60 — Excess of the
City's Profits from Trade as compared with the rest of the
Metropolis, 61 — Tonnage of Shipping, 62 — Comparative Ton-
nage of Ports and superiority of London, 63 — Recapitulation,
64— The City " Stands Alone," 65 54—65
CHAPTER V.
CRIME IN THE CITY AND METROPOLIS — COST AND EFFICIENCY OF THE
CITY and METROPOLITAN police forces.
Religious and Educational advantages in the City ; Their Statistics,
67 — Alleged extreme Criminality in the City ; Sir Richard
Mayne's Statistics, 68 — Sir Richard Mayne's Letter ; Its absurd
Allegations, 69 — Mr. Edwin Chadwick ; He Vouches to a Select
Committee for Sir Richard's Statistics, 70 — His knowledge
upon Police Matters, 71 — The Letter Suppressed in the Home
Office, 72 — Omitted Paragraphs of the Letter, 73 — Making "the
Truth Known," 74 — Cost of the Police per man, 75— Sir
Richard's Reduction of his "Total Cost," 76— By Certain Speci-
fied Deductions, 77 — These Deductions Illusory ; Numerical
Strength and Cost of Metropolitan Police, 79 — Cost of City
Police— its "Total Cost," without Reduction, 80— The Cost-
per- Population Fallacy, 81 — How the City Police are
Employed, 82 — The Cost-per- House Fallacy, 83— Official
Divarication, 84 — Police Rates in the City ; Singular Omission
from "Judicial Statistics," 85— Police Efficiency ; Its Real
Test of Value, 86 — Crimes in the City and Metropolis, 87 —
Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Statistical Inaccuracies, 88— Criminality tested by Population,
89 — Do the Non- Residents and Frequenters commit no Crimes ?
90 — Absurdity of such a Position ; Three-fourths of Crime in the
City Committed by Non- Residents, 91 — Ratio of Crime to Houses ;
Relative Criminality of the City and Metropolis, 92 — Ratio of
Houses to Crime at the " Derby," 93 — Ratio of Crimes to Houses
by their Common Measure, 94 — Apprehensions tested by their
Results, 95 — Admissions by Sir Richard Mayne, 96 — Fallacious
Test of Efficiency, 97 — The Chief Commissioner's Statistics
Corrected, 98 — The " Graver Offences," 99— Contrast in the City
and Metropolis, 100 — Sir Richard ignores Murders and adds
Pilfering to the Graver Crimes, 101 — Analysis of all the Graver
Crimes, 102 — Statistics of Murder and Self-Murder, Serious Dis-
crepancies respecting Crinie of Murder, 103— Coroners' Returns
contrasted with those of the Police, 104 — Strange Returns in
"Judicial Statistics," 105 — Extraneous Influences upon Suicide,
106— The Crimes-to-House Fallacy, 107 — Alleged Criminality of
City, 108 — Relative Number of Public Houses, 109 — Thieves in
Embryo, 1 10 — Their Training Ground ; Incitements to Crime in
City and Metropolis, 1 1 1 — Needed Suppression of the Incentives
to Crime, 112— Percentage of Crimes in the City and Metro-
polis, 113 — Enlargement of the Scope of Enquiry, H4^Table of
Comparative Efficiency of Police, 115— Relative Percentage
of Convictions, 116 — Improvement under Colonel Fraser, 117 —
Suppressed Paragraph, 1 1 8— Perverted Statistics, 119 — An
Interpolation in "Judicial Statistics," 120 — A Fog of Figures,
121 — Statistics by Estimate, 122— Correction of Accounts, 123 —
Complaints respecting " Judicial Statistics " — - Manchester ;
Opinion of the Recorder of Birmingham, 124 — Crime in Bristol
and Bath, 125 — Recapitulation — Crime and Police — City
and Metropolis, 126 — 129 — Statement submitted to Select Com-
mittee respecting City Police entirely Unfounded, 130 . . 66 — 130
CHAPTER VI.
the FISCAL REPRESENTATION of the city, etc., at the
METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.
Defects of Metropolitan Board ; Number of its Members Inadequate ;
Expenditure rapidly Increasing, 132— Increasing Taxing Powers
TABLE OF COl XIII
of the Board ; Defective Representation of Local Ink a
133 — Enormous Fiscal Power of each Mem! ; urate
Cities and Boroughs Outweighed by each such Member, 134
— Local Interests Unrepresented ; Opinion of Corporation
Commissioners (1854) on Local Representation, 135 — Sir John
Thwaites — Representation Inequitable, 136 — Table of Relative
Fiscal Power of each Member, 137 — Illustrations of Inequality,
138 — City not Adequately Represented, 139 — The same of Mary-
lebone, Pancras and Paddington, 140— Equitable Representation
Expedient, 141— The Board must be Reconstituted or Replaced,
H2 — Tabular Scheme for more Equitable Representation, 143 —
Change Imperatively Demanded, 144 — Districts in the Order of
their Claims, 145 — Principles laid down for the Reconstruction
of Board, 146 — The Board an Experiment, 147 . . 131 — 147
CHAPTER VII.
METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITIES— the various suggestions
IN REFERENCE THERETO — AND THE FUTURE OF THE METROPOLIS.
The Metropolitan Board of Works a Compromise, 148 -Government
Antagonism to and Jealousy of Municipal Institutions, 149 —
Attacks upon Popular Rights ; Prevention of Erection of Street
Bridges to Secure Safe Crossing, 150 — Government Hindrance of
the Thames Embankment, 151— Embankment Designed by
Corporation in 1842 — Delay of a Quarter of a Century, 152 —
The Government creates the Delay, 153 — The Sewage of the
City Completed, 154 — Opposition of Government to Increased
Sanitary Powers in 1848, 155 — City obtains Powers and puts
them in force — Mr. Simon — Dr. Letheby, 156 — Gratifying
Sanitary Results, 157 — Diminished Mortality ; Cholera Death-
rate Reduced, 158 — The Force of Cholera Abated ; Contrast of
London with other Cities and Towns, 159 — General Death-rate
Improved ; Advantages of Municipal Institutions, 160 — Sanitary
Condition of City Improved, 161 — Improvement the Result of
Increased Sanitary Activity, 162 — Police — City Suggests the
Police System of the Metropolis, 163 — Report of Select Com-
mittee in 1828 to that effect; Sir Robert Peel's Testimony to
that effect, 164 — The Honourable Fox Maule's and Sir George
Grey's Testimonies, 165 — The Future of the Metropolis, 166 —
Government Hostility to City's Rights and Immunities in all
XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Ages, 167 — The Metropolis the Brain of the Empire, and worthy
of Representation, 168 — Disarray and Disorganization of the
Metropolis, 169 — Serious Police Developments in the last Thirty
Years, 170 — Remedies for the Rearrangement of the Metropolis
Suggested, 171— The Parisian Model, 172— The "Adelaide"
Model, brought from the Antipodes, 173— Sir William Fraser's
Plan, 174— Corporation Inquiry Commissioners, 1854, 175 — The
Commission manifests Caution and shirks the Question, 176 —
A Commissioner's Private Opinion, 177 — Mr. Mill's Proposed
Bill, 178 — Details of the Bill, 179— Proposed Divisions for the
Metropolis into Ten Municipalities, 181, 182 — Particulars of
Sub-division of Metropolis and Outline of Clauses in the Bill,
183 — 185 — Principle of Bill Unobjectionable, 186 — Its Omissions
and Defects, 187 — The Great Difficulty — How is London to be
United so that it shall work Harmoniously? 188 — Can it be by
Federation? 189 — Or by Aggregation of London? 190 — Princi-
ples of Organization shadowed forth, 191 — The City would take
the Lead, 192 148—192
TABLES ON FOLDING SHEETS.
Districts and Parishes of the Metropolis, their Sleeping Popula-
tions in 1 86 1 ; the number of their Inhabited Houses ; their
Rateable Values in 1866 ; and the Values per head and per
house in each District Facing p. 13
The Number and Tonnage of Vessels entered and cleared at each
of the Ports of England and Wales, in the Coasting, Colonial
and Foreign Trades, in the year 1865 .... Facing p. 62
Summary of Crimes of every description in the eight years from
1858 to 1865, comparing the same in the Metropolitan and City
Police Districts, compiled from the volumes of "Judicial
Statistics " for those years Facing p. 98
Table of Disreputable' and Dangerous Elements in the Metro-
politan Police District and in the City of London, for the eight
years 1858 — 65 . Facing p. in
Tabular Abstract of Indictable Crimes in the eight years 1858 — 65,
shewing the relative proportion of the Police Districts to 'their
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV
respective Populations ; the number of Offenders in each District
yearly ; and the General and Annual Excess of Offences above
the proportionate number Facing p. 1 1 3
APPENDICES.
I. — Report to Court of Common Council, 1842, on Survey and
Embankment of the River Thames 193 — 195
II. — Appendix and Tables to Letter of Sir Richard Mayne,
1863 196 — 203
III. — Comparative Statement of Indictable Crimes in the Metro-
politan and City Police Districts for the eight years 1858 — 65,
Compiled from "Judicial Statistics."
IV. — Comparative Statement of Offences Determined Summarily
in the Metropolitan Police District and in the City of London,
1858 — 65, Compiled from "Judicial Statistics."
V. — The Gross and Rateable Values of the several Parishes and
Unions in the Metropolis ; as shown by the Supplemental Valuation
Lists sent to the Clerk to the Manngers of the Metropolitan Asylums
District ; which will come into Force on the 6th day of April, 1877.
VI. — A Table of Districts and Parishes of the Metropolis,
with their Rateable Values, in 1876-7; extracted from
return of Mr. Arthur Gunn, Accountant to the Metropolitan
Board of Works, in reference to the sums required by that Board
for the year 1877.
A STATISTICAL VINDICATION
OF THE
CITY OF LONDON.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
" /^\H what a goodly outside falsehood hath !" So saith
V-^ Antonio in the " Merchant of Venice," and he might
have applied the aphorism to certain merchants of this our
London city, who have vaunted, or applauded while others
vaunted, their wrealth and respectability, the grasp of their
enterprise, the extent of their commerce, and the bona fides
of their mercantile transactions. We have heard, forsooth, of
a city " whose merchants are princes," whose ships cover every
sea, whose trade crowds every shore, whose loans have brought
to a successful termination every war in which the nation has
engaged, and whose open-handed charity embraces the
calamities of either hemisphere.
It appears, however, that this is empty declamation — mere
delusive boasting; for although it may have been so in the
distant past, it no longer applies to the City of London.
2 ALLEGED DECADENCE OF THE CITY :
Statistics have shewn up the cheat ; the hollow fallaciousness
of the claim is proved by figures, which may be relied upon, for
they have been said to be less delusive than facts. The City
of London is passing away, its streets are deserted, its houses
diminishing in number, and not only so, but, of those which re-
main, the number uninhabited is ever on the increase; its popu-
lation also is diminishing in a ratio which will leave it a desert
early in the succeeding century — if not sooner. And what
shall we say of the character of its population — its merchants,
bankers and traders? Unless (which we cannot believe)
figures greatly mislead, they have fallen from their high
moral estate to the level of the most criminal of our popula-
tion. No longer the souls of commercial honour, the syno-
nyms of well-to-do respectability and lavish charity, we find
them at the bar of our police courts and of the Old Bailey,
and that, again and again, until the whole of them, their
clerks and servants, must have been, on the average, con-
victed upon indictment or summarily, at least three times
in the course of their natural lives !
But seriously ; has it come to this ? It has, indeed. Every-
body says it ; and is it not in print ? It must therefore be
true. The Registrar-General says it, or is understood to have
said it. A Royal Commission said it in 1837. Another
Royal Commission repeats it in 1854. A Select Committee
of the House of Commons, presided over by the Honourable
Member for the Tower Hamlets, takes up the tale, and
should not a Select Committee know ? Sir Richard Mayne
tells Sir George Grey so, in a return made by the former to
the latter, and surely Sir Richard ought to know ! Moreover,
Mr. Edwin Chadwick tells the Select Committee aforesaid
that Sir Richard Mayne's statistics are " reliable," and the
OFFICIAL AUTHORITIES TO THAT EFFECT. 3
Select Committee, upon the testimony of Mr. Edwin
Chadwick, introduce a document into their report to the
House of Commons confirmatory of his accuracy.*
* The following assertions, on authority, in relation to the population,
number of houses, state of crime, etc., are adduced as a sample of much
more of the same sort which could be quoted : —
"City of London: population, 122,395; houses, 17,315. The Muni-
cipal City of London contains rather a less population and a smaller
number of houses than is shewn by the above account. We believe that,
after making all necessary deductions, it may be assumed that the limits
of the City of London embrace less than a ninth of the population of
what may be considered, in a general sense, the Town of London." —
Second Report 0/ Commissioners on Municipal Corporations, 1837, p. ii.
" It appears that the area of the City Proper is 723 acres ; that it
contained 14,693 inhabited houses in 1 85 1 ; that its population was
128,833 m 1 80 1, and 129,128 in 1851. The relation, therefore, of the
City of London Proper to the entire Metropolis, measured by these facts,
stands thus : —
Metropolis, population in 1801, 958,863 ; City, 128,833 ;
„ 1851,2,362,236; City, 129,128.
It will be observed that, whereas the population of the entire Metropolis
has more than doubled in the last fifty years, the population of the City
of London has remained nearly stationary. The City which lies at the
centre [of the Metropolis] forms, in successive , years, a constantly smaller
and smaller portion of the entire Metropolis, as measured by its population.
Thus, in 1801, the population of the City was about a seventh part of the
population of the Metropolis; whereas, in 185 1, it was only an eighteenth
part." — Report of Commissioners of Inquiry into the Corporation of
London, 1854, pp. xii., xiii.
" The City of London, consisting of 99 parishes, containing 702 acres,
13,260 houses, assessed at ^1,279,887, and a population of 111,764
persons." — Third Report of Select Committee of the House of Commons
on Metropolitan Local Taxation, 1861, p. vi.
" City of London : population, computed 1866, 104,908."— Appendix,
No. 8, of First Report of Select Committee of the House of Commons on
Metropolitan Local Government and Taxation, 1866.
"The area of the City is little more than one square mile; the
4 AUTHORITIES TO THAT EFFECT.
Moreover, we read in certain popular and well-informed
periodicals that it is as stated;* while sundry reputable
journals have taken up the same parable, and have edified
their readers with the truths which we are enunciating.
There are, certainly, a few facts and figures (fallacious,
doubtless) which at first sight would appear to tell upon the
population, 111,784 persons ; and the number of houses, inhabited and
uninhabited, 1,479" (? misprint for 14,794). — Sir Richard Mayne, in
Report to Sir Geo. Grey, dated June I, 1863, Appendix, No. 7, to Second
Report of Select Committee of the House of Commons on Metropolitan
Local Government and Taxation, 1866.
" There is a constant decrease of population and houses in the City." —
Sir Richard Mayne, as above.
"Crimes in the City are upwards of 156 per cent, higher than in the
Metropolitan District." — Sir Richard Mayne, as above.
"The precise number of criminals committed for trial in the year
[1861] was, in the City, 321 ; Metropolitan District, 2,997. Comparing
the ratio of those figures to the respective populations of each district,
it is found that such crimes [i.e., of a graver class] are, in the City, three;
in the Metropolitan District, one.'" — Sir Richard Mayne, as above.
"It is thus shewn that the crimes of a serious character, both those
against persons and houses, as well as crimes of every description, are,
relatively to population and houses, much higher in the City than in the
Metropolitan District."— Sir Richard Mayne, as above.
"There was a very decided statement made by Sir Richard Mayne
which exhibited statistics upon the subject [City Police], and I know
that, if Sir Richard Mayne gives statistics, I can rely upon them." " Now
I know that crime is greater and detection less frequent there [the City]
than in other parts of the Metropolis." " It [crime] is greater in propor-
tion to the population and property. I can give you a statistical return
proving that result. " — Evidence of Mr. Edwin Chadwick before the Select
Committee of the House of Commons on Metropolitan Government and
Taxation. Second Report. 1866. Answers : 6,596, 6,541, and 6,542.
* " The inhabitants of the City Proper are year by year decreasing.
In 1851, for instance, there were 129,128 inhabitants residing within its
boundaries ; but this number had declined in 1861 to 113,387 ; and pro-
bably in 1 87 1 the population of the most renowned commercial City in
the world will not exceed 100,000, or less than the number of people
living in Kensington." — Once a Week, September, 1866.
AN APPARENT PARADOX. 5
other side, and which it is fair to state in reference to this
matter. It is said, for instance, that the once famous and
now deserted and degraded City of which we are speaking
has within its limits a larger number of Churches, Chapels,
and Ministers of Religion than any similar area ; that it has
more children under education, in proportion to the population,
than are found elsewhere ; that it conducts a larger commerce
than any other known emporium in the world j and that this
can be proved by figures (fallacious, doubtless), for that there
are paid within its walls more Customs' duties than are levied,
in the aggregate, elsewhere in the empire ; that its Trading
profits, under Schedule D, as well as the amount of the Ship-
ping frequenting its Port, place it in the very highest Com-
mercial position j that its merchants and others (deceivers or
self-deceived) rent offices at unheard of and exorbitant rates,
so that, actually, ground-rents have, in the course of a few
years, risen in many instances above the level of their pre-
vious rack-rents, and that no less a sum than ^699,080 has
been added to the rateable annual value of the City within
the past year.* It is stated, moreover, that the Police force
of the City has been augmented until it numbers, now, 649
men to the square mile.
Here are, certainly, a few apparent contradictions, and the
whole statement seems paradoxical. Who shall discover a
way through this labyrinth, and find a clue out of this
bewilderment ?
If facts and figures, well vouched in the bluest of blue-
books, are worth a farthing, we must accept it as a fact that
London City has, in American phraseology, "gone up." We
are looking for the Fenians, but we miscalculate the probable
* Increased since 1866 by a further sum of ,£941,446 per annum.
6 CONTRASTED ELEMENTS OF THE PARADOX.
event ; it is the predicted New Zealander who is due, and if
we are to pin our faith upon reports "issued by authority,"
we may expect his first appearance shortly on the stage of
the remaining abutment of London Bridge.
Let us, however, availing ourselves of the brief interval
which precedes his arrival, look into this question ; and it may
be well to set in juxta-position the apparently contradictory
elements of this problem.
It is asserted on the authority of conflicting statistics —
i. That, in the City, trade and But i. That the population is
commerce are flourishing "year by year decreas-
beyond all former pre- ing."
cedent.
2. That street traffic is con- 2. That the houses rapidly
stantly on the increase. diminish in number.
3. That rents are rising be- 3. That "uninhabited" houses
yond all former experi- greatly increase,
ence.
4. That the rateable value of 4. That, consequently, trade
the City is greatly aug- must be declining and
menting. the City decaying.
5. That churches, chapels and 5. That crime is more rife
schools abound; and that than elsewhere — indeed,
there are more police to such an extent, that
to a given area than else- the whole population is
where in the Kingdom. criminally tainted.
The obvious conclusion from which is — that trade and com-
merce, prosperity and wealth, accompanied by the advantages
of religious instruction and educational culture, with the pro-
tection of a numerous and costly Police force, tend directly
to the promotion of depopulation, decay (material and
moral), deterioration and crime. We may advance a step
PERVERSITY OF THE ARGUMENT. 7
further in our induction, and we arrive at the conclusion that
by closing churches and chapels, dismissing the clergy and
ministers of religion, shutting up the schools, driving away
capital, trade and commerce, and disbanding our police, we
shall promote the social, moral and material interests of our
urban populations, increasing both their number and their
well-being.
There is, of course, a trifling amount of predilection, and
it may be of prejudice, to overcome before accepting such
conclusions ; but let us not be unreasonable. Having been
mistaken already upon many points of science, history, and
philosophy, we may be wrong here. We confess certainly to
a leaning, to some extent, in the direction of the ancient con-
ventional belief that London's streets — the City's, at all events
— are auriferous, that her commerce is ubiquitous and remu-
nerative, and that her merchants, as a rule, are wealthy and
respectable ; and awaiting conviction which shall compel us to
adopt the contrary view, we will abide by the old faith, for
" Until we know this sure uncertainty,
We'll entertain the favoured fallacy ;"
holding it against all comers — Government Commissioners,
Home Secretaries, Registrars-General, Select Committees,
selected witnesses, and Commissioners of Police — to the con-
trary notwithstanding.
It is doubtless political heresy to call in question aught
that is printed between blue covers ; but what are we to do
when blue-books contradict one another, and the statistical
trumpets give an uncertain sound ?
We are inclined to suspect that this subject has been treated
•
8 TRUE STATISTICS VINDICATED.
superficially, perhaps intentionally so j at all events there
would appear to be no remedy but to plunge into an ocean of
statistics to bring up, perchance, facts of value which are now
out of sight ; for
" Errors like straws upon the surface flow,
He who would search for pearls must dive below."
We have no quarrel with Statistics properly understood
and correctly applied. On the contrary, we desire to do
homage to a branch of science which is conferring many
obligations in various walks of social life ; and we believe that
we cannot more effectually serve the cause of statistical
science than by pointing out the cruel treatment it has sus-
tained at the hands of the empirical.
The science, rightly used, demands that an intelligent
appreciation of all the surrounding conditions shall be
brought to bear upon the figures which are employed. An
illustration or two will explain and enforce this view.
Some years since, a lecturer on "Vital Statistics" put
forth the startling announcement that two parishes in London,
immediately contiguous — St. George's, Hanover Square, and
St. Giles's — occupied, for some occult hygienic reason, the
most opposite positions as it regarded the disease of con-
sumption. St. George's was most unfavourable to its production,
while St. Giles's was exceedingly prolific of the destroyer.
All this was made plain to demonstration by reference to the
registers of burial of the two parishes. The author of this
notable discovery should have pushed his inquiries further ;
he would have discovered that Torquay, Hastings, and the
Isle of Wight were the most consumptive districts in England.
As a superficial matter-of-fact Statistician, he had never
INSTANCES OF ABUSE OF STATISTICS. 9
reasoned upon, or rather from, the figures, but had blindly
accepted their teaching. Had he visited the two parishes
in question, he would have learned that St. George's being
aristocratically populated, sent all its patients to die in a
purer air and a warmer climate; whilst St. Giles's being
peopled by a class at the opposite end of the social scale, left
its consumptive victims to find their record in the local tables
of the Registrar-General.
Another instance may be instructive. A near relative of
the writer, residing in an insalubrious district, lost one of his
children, and otherwise so suffered from fever in his family
that he parted with his property at a sacrifice, and sought a
more healthy locality. Judge of his astonishment to find that
the parish he had left occupied the highest place in the sanitary
tables of the District, as it regarded health and longevity !
Being scientifically disposed, he set himself to unravel this
mystery ; when he discovered that an almshouse appropriated
to persons of extremely advanced age, had so influenced the
record of the average duration of life, as to set up this local
" wolf in sheep's clothing," amongst the most innocent and
salubrious localities of the Empire.
Similar use, or shall we say abuse, of Statistics has been
extensively resorted to as it regards the City of London.
Attention was first directed to the subject by an assertion
made in a provincial town, that the City of London was,
unquestionably, the most drunken place in the Kingdom.
Having frequented the City for a life-time, and know-
ing it to be a place for business, and not for drinking, we
ventured to question the truth of the assertion, but were
speedily drenched by a cold shower of Statistics ; and
although not convinced, we were obliged to capitulate. Upon
IO THE TASK UNDERTAKEN.
reflection, we saw that the- fallacy lay in attributing the consump-
tion of drink by over 700,000 people, frequenters of the City,
to 100,000 registered residents, thus making the latter seven-fold
drunkards. Pursuing the inquiry, we found that the City, tried
by the same fallacious test, was the richest, and the most pau-
perized— the most religious and moral, whilst the most criminal
— the best watched, whilst the least cared for j indeed, that the
City of London occupied the unenviable position of being at
the head of everything, whether good, bad, or indifferent ! So
long as this amusing abuse of Statistics was confined to the
platforms of Literary Institutes and Provincial temperance
meetings, little harm was done; but when public men and
official authorities took up the same parable and ventilated
it at the public expense, it was high time that some one ex-
ploded the fallacy, and unclothed the imposture.
This then be our task ; — to bring, if possible, this question
of the relative importance, population, commerce, trade, traffic,
condition and character of the City of London, out of the mist
of uncertainty and detraction in which it would appear to
have been enveloped.
We propose to consider the subject, statistically, under
the following divisions : —
Chap. II. The relative importance of the City to the rest
of the Metropolis — tested by its population.
Chap. III. Its relative importance, determined by the
number and value of its houses, inhabited and unin-
habited.
Chap. IV. Its relative importance Rateably, and as re
spects its Trade and Commerce.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. II
Chap. V. Crime in the City and Metropolis; the cost
and efficiency of the City and Metropolitan Police
forces.
Chap. VI. The Fiscal representation of the City and the
other districts at the Metropolitan Board of Works.
Chap. VII. The various suggestions in reference to
Metropolitan Municipalities, and the future of the
Metropolis.
CHAPTER II.
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE CITY TO THE REST OF THE
METROPOLIS TESTED BY ITS POPULATION.
THE relative importance of the City must be determined by
ascertaining, as nearly as is practicable, its population,
the number and value of its houses, its rateable value, and the
amount and importance of its trade and commerce. We shall
treat of these subjects separately under their respective heads.
The moral character of the population does not concern us
here j for rogues and their haunts are not distinguished from
honest men and their homes in taking a census ; nor are they
relatively weighed in the balances of respectability in confer-
ring representation. Even assuming that the City population is
as criminal as is represented, we must nevertheless take stock
of it in estimating mere numbers and values, leaving the sub-
ject of crime for future consideration.
What is the City population? Is it decreasing? and
what is it relatively to the whole Metropolis ?
According to the Registrar-General's census of i#6i, the
population of all London within his registration district, and
including the City of London, amounted to 2,803,989 souls.
DISTRICTS OF THE METROPOLITAN AREA. 1 3
By the same authority the City of London and Liberties,
consisting of ninety parishes in the centre of the Metropolis,
and governed by a Municipal Corporation, had a population of
113.387-*
It will be very convenient to set out here a table of the
divisions of the Metropolis, the amount of their populations,
and the number of houses, as given by the census of 1861 ;
also the rateable values of the several districts, according to a
return recently issued by the Metropolitan Board of Works.
We have added columns to show the fiscal quality of the
respective districts — giving the district value per head and
the district value per house in each district. [See Table
annexed.]
Having set out the figures which must, for the present at
least, serve for data, we perceive that the Metropolitan area
of representation at the Board of Works comprises the City
of London and thirty-eight other districts.
The census returns give the population of the whole Metro-
polis at 2,803,989. Of this population, St. Pancras constitutes
7 per cent. ; Lambeth, Marylebone and Islington absorb,
each of them, 5^ per cent. ; while the City of London, accord-
ing to the census, figures only for 4 per cent. — being a half
per cent, lower than Shoreditch.
Some centuries since, London was the first city of Britain
and of the world. Behold it now, in the atlas of the
Registrar-General, taking rank below Shoreditch as a twenty-
* Including certain Liberties and Inns of Court watched' by the City
police, the district being identical with the three Poor- Law Unions of the
City and of East and West London. Since the publication of the Second
Edition of this Work, the three Unions have been united in one Union
for the whole City.
14 ASSUMED IMPORTANCE OF KENSINGTON.
fifth portion of the Metropolis ! " To what base uses may
we not return ! " To what depth of urban degradation may
we not descend — when the London of to-day is but a twenty-
fifth portion of the London of yesterday !
But this is not all, nor is it the worst. A writer in
the popular periodical, already referred to, following too
blindly and implicitly the Registrar-General's figures, informs
us that things are getting worse and worse ; that London City
is becoming "fine by degrees and beautifully less." He tells
us that " the inhabitants of the City proper are year by year
decreasing. In 1851, for instance, there were 129,128 inha-
bitants residing within its boundaries ; but this number had
declined, in 1861, to 113,387, and, probably in 187 1, the
population of the most renowned commercial City in the
world will not exceed 100,000, or less than the number of
people living in Kensington." He adds, somewhat incon-
sistently, " the army of people, principally males, that moves
on the City every morning is, perhaps, unparalleled in number
by any human tide that has ever moved diurnally on any
city in any age of the world."
The writer of this paragraph justifies his lamentation over
the decrease of the inhabitants of the City proper by the
official statistics of the census; but in his forecast of the
census of 1871, and his calculation that the inhabitants of our
City may, five years hence, number less than Kensington,
he has omitted to notice the accomplishment of his prophecy
some five years before its publication; for in 1861 London
City figures for but 61 per cent, of the inhabitants of
Kensington — 113,387 against 185,950!
We can realize this picture of a decaying city ; its deca-
dence the consequence of an ever decreasing population- — a
AN ANALYSIS OF KENSINGTON. 1 5
decrease in the short space of 20 years (1851 — 1871) of more
than 20 per cent. ! Nor is it very difficult to work out the rule-
of-three solution that, at the same ratio of decrease — namely,
one per cent, per annum — we shall see the City stranded, in or
about a.d. 197 1, on the treacherous Goodwin of a population of
one / What a dream of desolation for London City !
There is, however, something to be said in explanation of
this alleged decadence of the City of London ; and we shall
shew that terms have, by the unreflecting, been confounded
with facts. The fallacies here are chiefly three : —
(1.) The term Kensifigton does not mean Kensington —
but something else.
(2.) There is no " decrease " of population " year by
year," nor is it at the rate of 1 per cent, per annum — but
something else.
(3.) The term "inhabitants" of the City does not mean
" inhabitants " — but something else.
Fallacy 1. Kensington is not here intended, as might by
the uninitiated be supposed, to mean the pleasant semi-rural
parish of that name, but a district which has been favoured,
for what reason it concerns us not to inquire, by having its
importance and dignity exaggerated by the addition of the
three large and populous parishes of Paddington, Hammer-
smith and Fulham, with their several populations amounting
to no less than 115,842 persons.
By this means Kensington having been magnified accord-
ing to the formula —
Kensington, + Brompton (70,108) + Padding-
ton (75,784) + Hammersmith (24,519) +
Fulham (15,539) = Kensington = 185,950!
— the inhabitants of Kensington are thus found to be, relatively
i6
SLEEPING POPULATION OF THE CITY.
to those of the City of London, as 185,950 are to 113,387,
shewing the relative superiority of Kensington ! — Q.E.D.
The fact, divested of statistical fallaciousness, is, that
the population reported as sleeping in the City (which is not
a mere dormitory) was found on the night of the census to
be less than the population sleeping in the four large suburban
parishes of Paddington, Kensington, Fulham and Hammer-
smith, united.
Fallacy 2. The " decrease " of the sleeping population of
the City is not " year by year" even according to the census
tables ; nor is it proceeding at the rate alleged — one per cent,
per annum. The population returns for the City of London,
as officially taken at the various decennial periods of the
present century, are as follows : —
Sleeping
Population.
Increase.
Decrease.
Ratio of
Increase
per cent.
Ratio of
Decrease
per cent.
Census of 1811 gives
121,909
1821 „
125,434
3.525
2-89
1831 „
123,683
1,751
i"39
1841 „
129,251
5.568
4*5
1851 „
129,171
80
•006
1861 ,,
"3.387
15,784
I2'22
These figures shew that there has been no law of " year by
year decrease " prevailing, as has been assumed. The decrease
between 182 1 and 1831 was at the rate of 1*39 per cent, but
that ratio had been more than counteracted by a previous
increase between 181 1 and 182 1 of 2*89 per cent. Again,
WHAT IS AN INHABITANT? 1 7
between 1841 and 1861 there was a total decrease of 12*22
per cent., but this had been moderated by an increase between
1 83 1 and 1 84 1 of 4*5 per cent. The total net decrease in the
number of the sleeping population between 181 1 and 1861 is
8,522 persons in the half century — being at the rate of 6*99 (say
7) per cent, in 50 years. Correcting the asserted diminution
of 1 per cent, per annum, which would have reduced the
population by exactly half in 50 years =60, 95 4 persons, we
find that the decrease is not quite 0*14 per cent, per annum, or
7 per cent, in 50 years =8,5 2 2 persons — a ratio of decrease
which will postpone for many centuries the anticipated de-
population of the City of London, as it regards its sleeping
population.
It is possible that the widening of streets and consequent
displacement of buildings may further diminish the sleeping
population j and it is also quite possible that the enormous rise
in the value of house property within the City may lead to
the appropriation of the upper parts of warehouses, etc., as
residences for clerks, porters, and others — in which case the
sleeping population will certainly increase. But it is quite
immaterial to the question of the relative importance of the
City whether there is an increase or a decrease in this figure.
Having shewn the fallaciousness of the allegations that
the City is less populous than Kensington, and that its
population is "year by year decreasing," we proceed to
explode —
Fallacy 3. The term "inhabitant" used in the census not
meaning "inhabitant''' in its ordinary acceptation.
What is population ? Who are inhabitants ? Where do
people live? The changes may be rung upon these terms
to any tune that may best harmonize with the views of
2
1 8 WHERE DO THE CITIZENS LIVE?
fallacy-mongers. People may be truly said to live where, by
their active avocations, they obtain the means by which they
subsist. Says Shylock, and is he not right ? " You take my
life, when you do take the means whereby I live." Charles
Lamb says somewhere, referring to his desk at the India
House, " I derive life from this dead board." Do the com-
mercial inhabitants of Kensington really live in Kensington ?
Where do people live ? If it were asked, " where do people
snore ? " then the correct answer would certainly be, " where
they sleep."
But that is not the question for the solution of which the
1,837 pages of statistics, which make up the Census return for
1 86 1, were laboriously compiled. Census population of Ken-
sington District, 185,950. Has it that number of inhabitants?
707 Merchants, 47 Bankers, 228 Stock and Colonial Brokers,
49 Shipowners and Brokers, 100 Accountants, and 761 Mer-
cantile Clerks are included in the Kensington population. Let
us accept this total of 1,892 inhabitants as a sample and test of
the value of the return. The banks of the bankers, the Stock
Exchange of the stock-brokers, the offices of the merchants
and accountants, and the Mincing Lane and Commercial sale-
rooms of the Colonial brokers, are four miles from Kensington.
Daily, and immediately after breakfast, every one of these
1,892 gentlemen leave their homes for their respective places
of business within the City of London, to house, and feed,
and clothe their families — to earn commercial reputation, and
to amass wealth — to put forth their energies, to tax their
brains, and to devote themselves wholly to the real and exclu-
sive business of their lives — that, at the close of the day, they
may retrace their four miles of way, to refresh themselves, and
to sleep. Do these men live in Kensington ? Their thoughts,
THEIR DIURNAL OSCILLATION. 1 9
hopes, cares, and anxieties are concentrated in the City of
London. Hundreds of thousands of the best brains of the
Metropolis wend their way every morning from each of the
38 non-municipal districts towards the City proper, to devote
themselves to the chosen business of their lives during the
whole business portion of the day, and then — when the doors
of the Bank of England are shut, and the Banking-houses
have suspended payment until the morrow, when the Royal
Exchange and Custom House are closed, when the Stock
Exchange has impartially ejected its Bulls and its Bears, and
Lloyd's has made holiday — then and therefore, these hundreds
of thousands of the mercantile men of the commercial em-
porium of the world, return to the homes of their families in all
directions of the compass, to refresh themselves, " to sleep,
perchance to dream," until the hour shall arrive when
they must resume the active and energetic business of their
lives in the City of London. Do these gentlemen, enumerated
as in Kensington, live in Kensington or in London proper ?
It may appear a trivial question. It does not simply refer to
the 1,892, but to the 200,000 to 300,000 male adults, similarly
living all day in the City but sleeping in one of that City's
38 suburban districts, or in the regions beyond. Those
districts are but off-shoots from the parent-stem — places of
refuge for a commercial population which cannot find con-
venient space for their families within the restricted area of
the Municipal City.
Population has swarmed upon and settled in and around the
old Capital, because of the great and multifarious advantages to
be thence derived. " The army of people moving on the City
every morning," belo?igs to the City. Those composing it do not
make their diurnal approach as mere visitors, for mere amuse-
20 THEY ARE RATED OCCUPIERS IN THE CITY.
ment, as the few hundreds who daily go to Kensington to
inspect second-hand models or third-rate pictures. A very-
large proportion of this " army " are rated occupiers of houses
or tenements within the City, and pay enormous rents, and
very heavy rates and taxes too — certainly not because they
sleep in Kensington, but, because they belong, fiscally at any
rate, to the locality in which their business premises are
situate.
It is doubtless most convenient, in order to the number-
ing of the people of the United Kingdom, that the decennial
census should be taken at midnight But the midnight census,
having served for that purpose, should not be permitted to
restrict or qualify the operations of the functionaries of the
State, of the Municipality, or of those who are authorized to
put their hands in the pockets of the people ; nor is it right or
reasonable that advantage should be taken of so immaterial
or accidental a circumstance, as the locality of a person's bed-
room to impeach his Municipal privilege, or to deny or
question the just rights of his Municipality.
If the census were to be taken at noon, instead of at mid-
night, the decadence of the City of London would be difficult to
make out. Indeed, every frequenter of the City knows that
there are no signs of decay.
So, if the census were taken in October, instead of in April,
the return for the Metropolis would ignore the existence of the
aristocratic classes of the community altogether ; St. George's
Hanover Square and Belgravia would then appear depopu-
lated, or would be peopled almost exclusively by charwomen.
The Houses of Peers and of the Commons would be represented
by house-keepers, and the gate-keeper at Buckingham Palace
WHEN AWAKE, THEY RESIDE IN THE CITY. 2 1
would be the only representative of Royalty in town. By the
same process, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge could
be shewn to have fallen into decay, by taking the census during
vacation.
Do the landed gentry and aristocracy — do Queen, Lords
and Commons — their families, dependants and domestics,
reside in London? From February, till the close of July,
Yes j from August till February, No ! In the decennial
census they might, with truth, be represented as residing in
the rural districts in which their ancestral mansions are
situate ; but by the accidental gathering of the census in the
spring they are credited to the western Metropolis and other
suburban districts. Let us suppose that, for some sufficient
reason, Parliament should direct the next census to be taken
in the autumn ; what a lamentation would be heard from our
matter-of-fact statisticians about the decadence of western
London, the decrease "year by year" of the flower of its
population, and the gloomy prospects of the west-end of the
Metropolis ! This is but a parallel case to that of the City of
London. For a sufficient reason, which no one disputes or
denies, the census is taken when men are in their beds, and
not in their counting-houses j and the question arises, whether
the mercantile, banking, and commercial classes of the City
reside in the City? During the hours of activity, Yes;
during the night, No ! In the decennial census they with
their families, are credited to the suburbs, where they sleep,
and not to the City, in which they work daily with their
clerks. This is inevitable, according to the present mode of
taking the census. But then it does not follow, as the matter-
of-fact statisticians will have it, that all the merchants and
bankers are dead, their City depopulated, their offices " unin-
2 2 THE FALLACY OF DEPOPULATION.
habited " and their trade and commerce a myth. They are as
much in existence and entitled to be taken into account, as the
Queen, aristocracy and gentry would have to be considered,
were the census taken at a period which would seem to exclude
them as residents of the Metropolis.
The two cases put are precisely parallel in principle,
though they are treated differently in practice ; hence the
fallacy which constantly represents the City as becoming de-
populated, when every one connected with it knows that it is
ever and largely on the increase ; hence the injustice of treat-
ing it as relatively unimportant, and unworthy of fair con-
sideration, in relation to the wider areas of the Metropolis.
Before proceeding further in the elucidation of this part
of the subject, let us look at a few absurd results, at which we
necessarily arrive if we adhere to the night census as a test of
the relative importance of the City.
It will not be questioned that, with the exception of some
half-dozen merchants whose offices are situate without the
City's boundary, in Finsbury Square, all the foreign merchants
carry on their business within the City. They all meet at the
Royal Exchange, the Baltic, or the North and South American
Coffee-houses, and they all pay their Customs' duties at the
Custom House, in the City of London. Now, how many
of these " Merchants " do we find in the City according to the
" Census of Occupations " of the Registrar-General ? Just
356!
Now, the merchants of the City paid, in the last nine
years, Customs' duties on their merchandise amounting to
^108,134,119, being an average of ^"12,014,902 per annum.
So that, if we are to accept the census figures as fairly repre-
THE CENSUS DECEPTIVE. 23
senting the quality of the City population, we arrive at the
startling conclusion that each merchant, in the City, pays
Government ,£33,749 annually as his average share of Customs'
duties ; and yet, as we shall find presently, this mercantile
population which pays more than half of the Customs' duties
of the whole Empire, is statistically shewn to be the most
criminal in the Kingdom.
Again ; here is another absurd result. The " Bankers "
of the City are returned in the occupation census at
nine persons ! The City bankers possess a Clearing-house
which does not include the West-end bankers. It is
difficult, outside the select banking circle, to obtain the
amount of the yearly exchanges of this Clearing-house.
But, having procured the clearing figures of several of the
banks, we arrive at the conclusion that the annual clear-
ing of the City banks must be six thousand millions;
and this does not represent the business transacted over the
counter. We thus arrive at the conclusion, under the
guidance of the midnight census, that nine bankers, or, say,
three firms exchange two thousand millions, per firm, per
annum.
Again ; it appears by the Stock Exchange Official List that
there are 1,234 Stock and Share-brokers and jobbers in the
City ; but the official Census informs us that but ten of
these carry on the enormous business of all dealings in
^800,000,000 of the National Debt, and in the much larger
amount of Railway, Foreign, Colonial and other stocks, shares,
loans and securities. Of Underwriters there appear to be none
in the City ; but 39 shipping brokers and agents carry on the
whole shipping business of the Port of London, of a tonnage
equal to 10,460,000 tons annually.
24 INFERENTIAL CRIMINALITY OF THE CITIZENS.
Again ; there are in the City of London, according to the
census of 1861, 113,387 persons; of these, by the same tables
33,213 are children, who may be assumed to be generally free
from crime. This leaves 80,174 persons as the adult residents
of the City. The " Judicial Statistics " of the Home Secretary
shew that, in 1864, there were proceeded against, summarily or
on indictment, in the City of London, 9,641 persons. Now,
if we assume that the ages of the whole of the adult inha-
bitants range from 15 years upwards, it results, from a calcu-
lation based on the known laws of mortality, that each person
in the City, on an average, has been convicted three times
during the term of his or her natural life — an amount of
crime which has never been assumed to exist in any other
civilized community. We present this calculation and result,
which have been tested by an eminent Actuary, to the
matter-of-fact statisticians as a " statistic " quite as reliable
as those which have preceded it. Of this more anon.
But, it will be inquired — if the population of the City is
neither mercantile nor commercial, of what does it consist?
It would be exceedingly difficult to define the character of its
motley population on a census night. It would seem, from
the following figures, to be rather rural, pastoral and agri-
cultural than urban and commercial. Indeed, it would appear
from the census returns, that the City of London occupies a
very high — nay, the highest place — as it regards the efficient
cultivation of its soil — it having a greater number of farmers,
in proportion to its acreage, than any other agricultural dis-
trict in Great Britain ! On the night of the Census, there
were, it is true, in the City of London, 9 bankers, 10 stock-
brokers, and a few merchants ; but on the other hand there
were found 44 farmers — being at the rate of one farmer to every
STRANGE DEDUCTIONS FROM CENSUS. 2$
sixteen acres. There were also 3 farm-bailiffs, 23 gardeners,
6 fishermen and 1 gentle shepherd ! One apprentice is also
recorded — the last of his race — " crying in the wilderness "
of desolate London, over the departed trading glories of this
ancient City of Whittington.*
The case is clear, and is confirmatory of what we shall
adduce presently from the same statistical tables — that over
2,000 houses are " uninhabited " in the City, representing an
amount of desolation exceeding that which would result if
the whole cathedral city of Durham, or county towns of
Guildford, or Buckingham, or Dorchester were divested of
every inhabitant. The besom of destruction is indeed
passing over this once populous but now decaying City.
Like Nineveh and the proud city of Babylon, she is, to a great
extent, evidently, laid in heaps, and given over to shepherds
and the pasturing of flocks ; or, may we not find her condition
precisely reflected in the desolation of Maritime Tyre —
" How hath decay
Within her palaces a despot been !
Ruin and Silence in her courts have met,
And on her city walls the fisher spreads his net ! "
Are not these fair deductions from the City midnight
" census returns "of 1861 ?
Let us next ascertain — if the mercantile and banking classes
were not found in the City of London, where were they ? The
following table will, by suggestion, help to answer the ques-
tion.
* This one apprentice — sole type of his class — represented 1,764
apprentices, enrolled in the Chamber of London, as under Indenture at
the date of the Census of 1861 ; to say nothing of lads of this class un-
enrolled, and a large number not bound in accordance with the custom of
London. The apprentices of the City are estimated to exceed three
thousand; 148 of whom are actually in the establishment in which the
Census Tables were printed I
26
COMMERCIAL MEN IN THE METROPOLIS.
There were found on the night of the census in 1861, in
the following districts of the Metropolis : —
City Men of SIX Specified Commercial Classes, enumerated as
Sleeping Inhabitants of the several Metropolitan Districts.
Districts of Metropolitan
Board of Works.
City of London
St. George's, Hanover Sq
Marylebone
St. Pancras
Paddington
Islington
Lambeth
Kensington
St. James's, Westminster.
Lewisham
Hackney
Wandsworth
Poplar
Westminster
Chelsea
Strand
Shoreditch
Whitechapel
Greenwich
St. Giles's
St. Martin's
Camberwell
Clerkenwell
Newington
Limehouse
St. George-in-the-East ..
Holborn
Rotherhithe, etc
Bethnal Green
Mile End Old Town
St. Luke's
Fulham
St. Saviour
Bermondsey
Hampstead
St. George, South wark ..
Woolwich
Totals
356
197
345
306
Given
563
323
707
134
222
277
194
22
46
40
74
57
5o
• 85
136
62
197
57
87
13
6
52
14
14
25
7i
Given
14
13
132
30
Given
4,921
9
33
23
in the
27
7
47
7
6
13
15
o
6
6
6
o
o
1
13
3
5
o
8
o
o
1
o
I
o
I
in the
o
o
11
o
in the
lis
■g S O
00 o
33
44
101
114
census
211
170
228
17
109
166
87
20
21
35
12
26
13
56
33
5
107
21
32
3
3
27
5
20
17
11
census
7
9
37
8
census
1,808
54
18
22
61
with
no
76
49
9
5i
94
19
60
3
7
5
18
14
65
7
7
58
10
23
32
18
11
11
4
4i
4
with
1
11
21
6
with
1,000
59
43
60
144
Ken
216
in
100
3
40
149
44
20
30
3i
24
73
15
53
24
5
85
31
68
7
6
27
5
21
38
22
Ken
17
13
Green
1.622
g 2
s 5
773
373
613
1,010
sington.
2,039
1.274
761
168
316
1.465
277
245
234
222
201
739
140
3J7
322
123
858
369
772
"3
81
299
138
295
504
145
sington.
76
188
101
180
wich.
15,731
1,284
708
1,164
1,649
3,166
1,961
1,892
338
744
2,164
636
367
340
34i
322
9J3
232
577
535
205
II31©
488
990
168
114
417
173
355
625
254
106
241
3i9
237
25.345
CITY MEN IN THE COUNTRY.
27
In all 25,345 persons; almost all of whom, it may be safely
affirmed, belonged, during the day, to the City of London.
The list might be extended to every district beyond the Me-
tropolis ; for the suburban residences of the monied and mer-
cantile classes are not, by any means, confined to the Metro-
politan districts ; and the whole mercantile classes of the City
will not be found until the census tables shall have been
searched as far as, say Brighton in the south, Hatfield at the
north, and Windsor and Chelmsford at the west and east of
London, respectively. The subjoined table of four specified
classes of City men, sleeping within certain places selected
from beyond the Metropolitan districts, will place this point
above controversy.
Merchants, etc., Sleeping BEYOND the Metropolitan Districts,
in certain Places Selected. [Census of 1861.]
3
tj]3 .
ill
!
0
1
3
I5
0
3
3
i
i
.3
I
1
3
H
I3
i
I
Barnet ...
16
II
32
59
Kingston .
53
48
11
61
173
Brentford .
52
25
27
90
194
Reading...
16
7
13
33
69
Brighton...
74
21
44
99
238
Reigate ...
36
19
6
26
87
Bromley...
49
18
4
3°
101
Richmond.
39
21
13
4S
n8
Chertsey...
21
IO
3
5
39
Romford . .
27
10
5
37
79
Croydon...
155
106
25
169
455
Staines ...
10
7
5
10
33
Dartford...
26
26
12
32
96
Steyning...
17
7
4
16
44
Edmonton.
89
114
32
275
5io
Tunbridge
13
7
8
2S
S3
Eltham ...
18
5
7
16
46
Uxbridge..
9
1
5
29
44
Epping ...
9
H
2
14
39
Ware
10
2
1
15
28
Epsom ...
36
21
7
34
98
West Ham
97
78
29
24I
445
Eton
10
2
3
19
34
Worthing .
ii
4
...
13
28
Guildford .
13
2
4
32
5i
Windsor...
*5
11
3
23
.53
Gravesend.
10
22
9
39
80
Hendon ...
27
8
6
34
75 |
Totals...
958 627
288
1494 3367
A return of the number of season-tickets issued by the
railways to places, say, from twelve to fifty miles from London
would confirm this statement.
28 COMMERCIAL MEN SLEEPING IN THE CITY.
The totals of the table of the persons engaged in the
six commercial occupations specified, sleeping within the
Metropolis give us : —
Merchants 4>92i
Bankers 263
Stock and commercial brokers 1,808
Ship-owners, brokers and agents 1,000
Accountants 1,622
Commercial clerks 15,731
25.345
To which add the total of the above table of
merchants and others residing beyond the Me-
tropolitan area 3,367
Total 28,712
It will be seen, that, against this total, only 1,284 persons
were returned as in the City of London, on the night of
the census, viz. : —
Merchants 356 *
Bankers 9
Stock and commercial brokers 33
Ship-owners, brokers and agents 54
Accountants 59
Commercial clerks 773
Total 1,284
It will therefore appear that, of the specified classes above
enumerated, the City of London is, by the census tables,
credited with 1,284 persons out of 28,712, being less than
RESIDENCES OF THE CORPORATION MEMBERS. 29
five per cent, of that portion of the population which almost
exclusively belongs to it; whilst other districts in and near
the Metropolis have accorded to them more than ninety-five
per cent, of the mercantile, banking, financial and shipping
classes of the City of London.*
The inadequacy of the above figures to test the actual
numbers will be apparent, if we treat separately one of the
six specified classes. To select the class of Brokers : — The
Census tables, as above, account for only 33 as found in the
City out of 1,808 Brokers returned as sleeping within the
Metropolis. The subjoined table, extracted from the London
Stock Exchange Official List, and from the Post-office Direc-
tory, shews that 3,297 Brokers, in all, carry on their business
within the City of London.
* We give an illustration of the prevalent misconception on these
points which exists in well-informed quarters : —
Dr. Farr, of the Registrar- General's office, being asked by the Com-
mittee of the House of Commons on Local Government and Taxation,
(Qu. 2,420) "Are you not aware that nearly all those who take the
management of the affairs of the City of London do not sleep in the City
at night?" replied, " I was not aware of that ; I thought the Common
Council generally were resident (i.e., sleeping resident) shopkeepers, and
other people of that class." We have taken the trouble to obtain an
exact return of the residence of every member of the Corporation
(Aldermen and Councilmen), and we find that, out of the total of 232
members, 197 have suburban or country residences, and would not,
therefore, be returned in the Census as connected with the City. Only
the remaining 35 live and sleep within the City.
Of die total, there reside and sleep within the City of
London 35
,, ,, sleep within the Metropolitan area... 163
p 11 »» beyond the Metropolitan area... 34
Total Members of the Corporation 232
3°
THE BROKERS OF THE CITY.
Number of BROKERS Carrying on Business in the City of
London : —
Bill 71
Bullion 27
Coach 15
Coffee 10
Colonial .'. 223
Cork 2
Cotton 25
Discount 41
Drug 59
Exchange 41
Fire Insurance 5
Fruit 26
Hide and Fur 16
India 70
Indigo 38
Insurance 190
Ivory 10
Lead 4
Metal 64
Mining 10
Oil, etc. 67
Provision 5
Rice 3
Russia 61
For Sale of Ships 3
Ship and Insurance 653
Silk 29
Stock and Share 1,232
Sugar 23
Tea 106
Timber 26
Tobacco 34
Wine and Spirit 48
Wool 60
Total 3,297
Firms estimated at 2.\ each.
It thus appears that only 33 Brokers were included in the
night Census of 1861, as in the City, out of a total of 3,297
Brokers — being just one per cent, of the whole ! *
Uncertainty on these points is . now happily at an end.
The Corporation of London, noticing the frequent abuse of
the figures which conventionally represent the population of
the City — perceiving, as they thought, a disposition in certain
quarters to re-arrange the Metropolis, for Municipal purposes,
on that delusive basis — observing also the constantly increas-
ing fiscal power of the Metropolitan Board of Works and
the inadequate share of representation which the City pos-
sesses at that Board, relatively to the other districts of the
* The facts above stated were brought by Mr. Crawford, M. P. , before
the House of Commons during the discussions on the Representation of the
People in England and Wales Bill, in 1867, and the result was that the
limits of residence for voters for the City of London were extended from
seven miles to twenty-five miles.
FALLACIOUSNESS OF A NIGHT CENSUS. 3 1
Metropolis, held it to be their duty to set at rest the question
of the actual population of the City by taking a DAY CENSUS
of its inhabitants.
The results have been recently made public in a Report,
issued by authority of the Corporation. It supplies figures
which, until 1871 (when it is hoped that the Registrar-
General will undertake a similar census) must serve as data
for arriving at a fair approximate estimate of the relative
importance of the City in relation to the rest of the
Metropolis — so far as population can form a basis of
comparison.
The gross inconsistency of measuring the City by its
sleeping population which, as shewn, omits almost entirely, the
Commercial element of the commercial capital of the world,
is well and briefly stated in the following extract from the
Corporation Report : —
"In taking a Census, to ignore the mill-owners and spinners of Man-
chester ; or to omit the coal-owners, workers and shippers of Northumber-
land ; or to gather the Census of Belgravia and West London in the
autumn, when aristocracy is out of town, would not so grossly misrepresent
facts as to eliminate the banking, mercantile and commercial element from
the enumeration of the City of London by taking its Census in the night."
The statements we have already made, and the absurd
results which have been deduced from the figures previously
given, must be conclusive as to the necessity which existed for
the Day Census. Its utility in relation to several important
problems which await solution in reference to the "Local
Government and Taxation of the Metropolis " cannot be
questioned.
The Royal Commissioners on Municipal Corporations
(1837) in their Second Report, indicate their opinion of the
fallaciousness of the usual census of the City population as a
test of its relative importance. They observe —
32 OPINIONS TO THAT EFFECT.
"We doubt much whether the comparative rates of increase and
decrease furnish any satisfactory test of the relative importance of the
districts. One objection to such a test is, that, under the particular cir-
cumstances of the City, it seems not difficult to suggest reasons why a rise
in its prosperity may produce a diminution in its population. Thus an
advance in its prosperity might render land more valuable for warehouses,
and therefore drive out the poorer population. It is also to be observed
that much of the importance of the City arises from its being the daily
resort of great numbers who, as they do not sleep in it, are not strictly a
part of its population ; and that the prevalence of this habit has been
continually on the increase during the present century."
Mr. Haywood, C.E., in a report which bears upon this
important subject,* makes the following remark upon the
delusive nature of the figures hitherto made use of to repre-
sent the City population : — -
"The present sleeping population neither represents the actual popula-
tion, nor the vastness of the City in any respect, for it is mainly composed
of the poor labouring classes, or of those left in charge of the various
premises ; and year by year it will be less representative of the City. "
But the most important testimony which has as yet
appeared, in reference to this subject, is that of Dr. Farr,
Superintendent of the Statistical Department of the Registrar-
General.
In reply to a question (No. 2,422) put to him by the Select
Committee appointed by the House of Commons to inquire
into the " Local Government and Taxation of the Metropolis,"
that gentleman replied —
"It is quite fair, I think, in considering the relative importance of the
City of London, to take that element (that persons having offices in the
City, sleep out of the City) into account. It is not taken into account in
the census. The City is, no doubt, of much greater importance than it
appears, if you consider merely the figures given in the census. "
* "Report on Traffic, etc., City of London. " By W. Haywood,
M. Inst. C.E. ; F.R.I. A.B., Surveyor and Engineer to the City Commis-
sioners of Sewers. 1866.
TOTALS OF THE CITY DAY-CENSUS. $$
The subjoined statement gives the totals of the enumera-
tion of the City and Liberties made by the Corporation in
1866:—
The total day population residing in the City 283,520
The number of persons resorting to the City
daily in sixteen hours (not included in the
above), being customers, clients, and other
frequenters 509,611
The total number of persons resorting to the
City daily in a day of sixteen hours 679,744
The total number of persons resorting to the
City daily in a day of twenty-four hours... 728,986
We are noiv in a position to bring statistical science, with
some degree of certainty, to bear upon a variety of questions
intimately affecting the dwellers within the Metropolis; and
which will more and more excite their interest as they shall
feel the weight of increasing burthens — the result of existing
local arrangements.
The population of the City proper is seen to be highly
migratory in its character. It is also on the increase, for by
the City Census Report it is shewn that, comparing the results
of an enumeration made by the late Mr. D. W. Harvey, Police
Commissioner, in i860, with the results gathered in 1866,
there is an increased daily flow into the City, during twelve
hours, of 21,977 persons since his enumeration.
34 INCREASING TRAFFIC IN THE CITY.
With reference to the extraordinary throng of daily fre-
quenters of the City and its thoroughfares, we quote ' the
following important conclusions arrived at by Mr. Haywood
in his Report on Street Traffic, already alluded to. He
summarizes thus : —
" That the residential or sleeping population of the City
was in 1861, 113,387, and is likely to diminish; but that the
true population is composed of those to whom the City is the
place of daily resort, and which is perhaps three-quarters of a
million in addition to the sleeping population.
" That the traffic of the City has for several years been
increasing in a greater ratio than the increase of the Metro-
politan population.
"That in 1848 a traffic equal to one-seventh of the whole
Metropolitan population entered the City during nine of the
busiest hours of the day.
"That in i860 a traffic equal to nearly one-fifth of the
whole Metropolitan population entered the City during twelve
of the busiest hours of the day ; and a traffic equal to one-fourth
of the whole Metropolitan population during the twenty-four
hours.
"That the traffic which enters the City daily, and which
is chiefly composed of males, is equal in number to one-half of
the whole male population of the Metropolis.
" That the traffic now entering the City daily is about
three-quarters of a million, and in forty years hence will
probably be a million and a half
IMPROVED MEANS OF TRANSIT NECESSARY. 35
"That the great bulk of the Metropolitan population
select their residences with a view to the facility with which
the City can be reached.
" That it is for their convenience chiefly that improvement
in the City thoroughfares is needed; and not for the con-
venience of the residential (or sleeping) population of the
City only.
" That this daily business population needs now, and
hereafter will need still more, improved means of transit to
the City.
"That, within the City itself, there is hardly a leading
thoroughfare which is equal to the traffic that passes through
it." — Report, pp. 108, 109.
But, to return to the relative importance of the City of
London. It will be seen, by what has preceded, that the City
is not, as yet, depopulated, as some, on insufficient data, have
too hastily assumed j nor are its streets deserted. Whether
its houses are "uninhabited," and its population depraved,
remain to be seen — subjects which must be treated of in
subsequent chapters.
We can only affirm, at present, that relatively to Ken-
sington and the Metropolis, the City is not, in any sense, in the
position which has been attributed to it.
We have proved —
That the term " Kensington " has been used in a sense
which does not mean Kensington, but a much larger
district.
36. IMMENSE DAILY INVASION OF THE CITY.
That a " year by year decrease " of one per cent, in
the sleeping population of the City does not mean any-
thing of the kind ; but, that, instead of a ratio of one per
cent, annually, or ioo per cent, in a century (so that the
City would be depopulated in 197 1), the true ratio is
barely 14 per cent, in a hundred years.
That the term " inhabitant," made use of in reference
to the City, does not mean inhabitant, but merely a person
sleeping in the City. That the resident population of
the City, at the very least, is 283,520, while that
of Kensington, at its maximum, is but 70,108, being
less than a fourth part of the population of the City of
London ; and further, it has been shewn, as resulting
from all this, that Kensington is in no position to over-
take the City of London as it regards population.
That " the army that moves on the City daily, is unparal-
leled in numbers by any human tide which has ever moved
on any city," we have not attempted to disprove ; for it has
been ascertained, as we have seen, that that army consists
of no less than three-quarters of a million of persons, five-
sixths of whom consist of males, resorting to the City daily
for purposes of business. That "army" is likewise on the
increase — 21,977 persons having been added to it daily during
the busiest hours of the day, in a period of six years.*
It remains to be stated that a tendency to decrease in the
sleeping population is not by any means confined to the City
of London ; but that a similar migration from the centres of
business during the night is taking place elsewhere, and will
* See " City Census Report," p. II.
DECREASE OF SLEEPING POPULATION IN LONDON EXTRA. 37
continue to do so within the Metropolis. This is particularly
noticeable, as might be expected, in the City of Westminster.
This decrease in the sleeping population has already been :
Persons.
In St. James's Parish in 10 years 1,080
in 20 years 2,072
In St. Martin's-in-the-Fields in 10 years 1,951
; in 40 years 5,563
In St. Mary-le-Strand in 10 years 445
In St. Paul's, Covent Garden ... in 10 years 656
In St. Margaret's, Westminster... in 10 years 535
In most of the above cases the ratio of decrease, relatively
to population, is much higher than in the City of London.
The Registrar-General takes notice of this decrease in respect
of several parishes. He says, of St. Margaret's parish —
" The decrease of population has been progressive for some years,
owing to private families having left for the advantage of letting their houses
for solicitors', engineers' and railway contractors' offices ; to the pulling
down of houses for the new thoroughfare to Pimlico (Victoria Street), and
in contemplation of new Public Offices."
Here we have an insight into the causes which are reducing
the sleeping population of Westminster, and which are iden-
tical with those operating in the City of London. Private
families, with their domestics and children, are giving place to
solicitors, engineers, and other men of business and public men ;
but who is to say that Victoria Street, Westminster, is not of as
much relative importance as a street of private residences ?
The following Metropolitan parishes and sub-districts
shew a decreased sleeping population in 1861, as compared
with 1 85 1 : —
38
PARISHES WITH DECREASED POPULATIONS.
St. Andrew's, Holborn (above Bars)
St. Giles-in-the- Fields
Spitalfields ...
Whitechapel
St. Paul's, Covent Garden
Liberty of the Rolls
St. Leonard, Shoreditch
St. Paul, Shadwell
St. Saviour, Southwark
St. Olave, „
St. Thomas, ,,
St. George's (Hanover Square sub-district)
,, (May Fair ,, )
Sleeping Population.
Deorease.
1851.
1861.
29,320
28,721
599
37.407
36,684
723
20,960
20,593
367
37,848
37.454
394
5,810
5.154
656
2,564
2,274
290
19,449
19,188
261:
11,702
8.499
3.203
19,709
19,101
608
6,460
6,197
263
1.555
1,466
89
20,216
19.773
443
12,980
12,885
95
It must not be assumed that, because the sleeping popu-
lation of Westminster diminishes, it is consequently dimi-
nishing in importance. The contrary is known to be the fact ;
and the same remark applies to many parishes in the above
list. A constant, gradual and inevitable migration is taking
place, which will reduce the sleeping population in the
great centres of industry and trade — augmenting, more and
more, in this sense, the outlying portions of the Metropolis.
It will become the duty of the inhabitants of the Cities of
London and Westminster, and of places similarly circum-
stanced, to see that no injustice is done by placing representa-
tion upon an empirical basis — derived from a false view of the
term "inhabitant" as used in the Registration Tables.
CHAPTER III.
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE CITY DETERMINED BY
THE NUMBER AND VALUE OF ITS HOUSES, INHABITED
AND UNINHABITED.
THE relative importance of a district may be conveniently
estimated by the number and value of its houses. We
propose, therefore, to test the relative importance of the City
to the rest of the Metropolis by ascertaining the number and
value of its houses — inquiring how far they are inhabited.
The Reports of the Registrar-General as to the number of
houses in the City, if accepted without explanation or qualifi-
cation, convey the same melancholy idea of decay and desola-
tion as do the figures, to which we have referred, respecting
population.
The following table is extracted from the census returns
of the present century, and shews, it will be observed, a
decreasing number of houses inhabited, and an increasing
number of houses ^/inhabited within the City. What more
conclusive evidence of decay could be presented ? So argue
the matter-of-fact statisticians !
4Q
ASSUMED DECREASE OF INHABITED HOUSES.
Census of
Houses
Inhabited.
Houses
Uninhabited.
Total
Houses.
Houses
Building.
l8ll
17»4I3
458
17,871
6x
1821
17, 170
I.OI5
18,185
105
1831
16, 735
1,131
17,866
81
1841
16,051
980
I7.03I
95
1 851
14,706
1.454
16,160
29
1861
I3.43I
2,057
15.488
97
The decrease of inhabited houses, during the last fifty
years, has been 3,982 houses, or at the rate of 23 per cent. !
and the increase of ^inhabited houses in the same period has
been 1,599 — being at the rate of 350 per cent. ! 1 !
Lamentable, indeed, must be the condition of that Empire
whose Capital city of 15,488 houses is so reduced, in the estima-
tion of its citizens, that thirteen in every hundred of them is,
on the official report of its chief statistician, #«inhabited ; for,
if 2,000 houses in the City are uninhabited, must not the
effect be, so to reduce the rental of the other 13,488, as greatly
to impoverish their unfortunate owners ?
Before we address ourselves to the causes of this decay, or
even inquire whether it exists, let us endeavour to estimate
its extent — to afford the mind some assistance in enabling
it to grasp the idea presented by the above figures — com-
paring with the uninhabited houses of the City those in-
habited in other more favoured Cities, Towns and Parishes.
The decrease in the number of houses — 1811
to 1861, was 3)982
The increase of houses ^inhabited was r>599
Total houses pulled down and untenanted 5,581
ASSUMED DESOLATION OF THE CITY, MEASURED. 4 1
The decrease in the last decennial period
— 1851 to 1861, was 1,275
Houses at present uninhabited 2,05 7
Total of houses which have disappeared in
10 years, and of houses now untenanted 3,332
The desolation presented by 5,581 houses which have
either disappeared or become untenanted in the City of
London, since 181 1, may be conveniently estimated by compar-
ing those figures with the total number of /^habited houses in
any of the Cities undermentioned — on the supposition that the
most populous of the cities were left without an inhabitant !
City
of Oxford Inhabited houses
l86l 5,234
„ Carlisle „ ,
5^40
, Lincoln ,
> )
4,315
, Canterbury ,
» 3
3,9°8
, Rochester ,
y j
3,°74
, Hereford ,
>
3>°°5
, Gloucester
t
2,854
, Peterboro'
)
2,401
, Winchester
>
2,392
„ Salisbury
J
2,344
„ Durham
1
2,007
„ Chichester
tt
» 1,601
» Ely
>>
i,559
„ Wells
>>
863
It will be observed that the assumed desolation in the City
of London is equivalent to the obliteration of the most popu-
lous of the above Cities, or of the united Cities of Chichester,
Ely and Wells — with 1,558 houses, equal to another City of
Ely, to spare.
The desolation presented to the mind by 5,581 houses
pulled down or untenanted, since 181 1, may be further esti-
42 FURTHER ILLUSTRATION OF ASSUMED DESOLATION.
mated by supposing that the most populous of the under-
mentioned Parishes or Districts of the Metropolis were left
without an inhabitant : —
Parishes and Districts. Houses
St. Martin's-in-the-Fields 2,240*
St. James's, Westminster 3,333*
St. John's, Ditto 3*723 *
St. Margaret's, Ditto 3>°39 I
St. Mary's, Paddington 4,826 }
St. John's, Ditto 4,861 j
Fulham 2,48 1 *
St. Giles-in-the-Fields and St. George,
Bloomsbury 4,690*
St. Saviour's, Southwark District 4*47 I#
Holborn District 4*176*
Woolwich 4>596*
Lewisham 3*789*
Strand District 3,742*
St. Peter and St. Paul, Hammersmith ... 4,164
St. Anne, Limehouse 3*694
Wapping, Shadwell and Ratcliff 3*747
Bromley, St. Leonard's 3*4°7
St. Mary's, Rotherhithe 3*521
Clapham 3*404
Plumstead and Charlton 4,3 1 2
Spitalfields 2,063
Whitechapel 4*395
Battersea, with Penge 3*793
The desolation wrought in ten years by 3,332 houses
removed since 1851 and houses now untenanted, may be
estimated by supposing that the most populous of the under-
mentioned Towns, returning Members to Parliament, were left
without an inhabitant : —
* The Parishes or Districts marked with an asterisk (*) return members
to the Metropolitan Board of Works.
ITS EFFECT ON T^E VALUE OF PROPERTY.
43
Borough Towns. *»*£«£
Lancaster 2,992
Morpeth 2,312
Newark 2,558
Newcastle-under-Lyne 2,659
Pontefract 2,596
St. Ives 2,116
Sandwich and Deal ... 2,672
Stafford 2,241
Tamworth 2,103
Taunton 2,899
Tiverton 2,210
Truro 2,391
Warwick 2,272
Whitby 2,464
Borough Towns. IgjJ^
Banbury 2,068
Barnstaple 2,186
Bedford 2,752
Beverley 2,403
Bridgewater 2,123
Bury St. Edmund's ... 2,852
Clitheroe 2,247
Falmouth and Penryn 2,238
Frome 2,066
Grantham 2,254
Great Grimsby 3,161
Hastings 3,290
Hythe 2,843
Kendal 2,590
We next proceed to inquire — If there has been such an
amount of decay and consequent depopulation as is depicted
by these figures, what has been its effect upon the value of
the property of the unfortunate owners ? — what the consequent
reduction of rents ? — and what the diminution in the taxable
rental of the City ?
And here we are met, as before, by an astounding paradox !
Houses have been removed and rendered untenantable to the
number of 5,581 in 50 years, or to the extent of 3,332 in 10
years; but the annual value of the City has risen from
,£565,243 to £2,109,935 — an increase of no less a sum than
,£1,544,692 per annum.
For, the rental of the City was, in 1811... ,£565,243
It is now, according to the last assessment
of the Metropolitan Board of Works ... 2, 1 09,935
Increased annual value in 55 years £1,544,692
This is at the rate of 213 per cent. /*
* Since 1866, the Rateable Value of the City (exclusive of the Temple)
has further increased 10^3,051,381 in 1876, showing a ratio of increase
since 181 1 of over 439 per cent. II
44 A NETWORK OF FALLACIES.
Such a result appears even more paradoxical than that
which we presented in relation to the assumed diminution
of the City's population. We seem again to be involved in
a network of fallacies; let us strive to clear our way as we
best may. The fallacies would appear to be chiefly three —
i. It is overlooked that a "house "is not a common
measure of magnitude or value.
2. It is assumed that displacement of houses necessarily
implies destruction of property and diminished value.
3. The term " ^inhabited house " does not mean un-
inhabited house, but something else.
Fallacy 1. It is overlooked that a "house" is not a com-
mon measure of magnitude or value; and that, unless it be
used intelligently, to measure relative importance, it will
only mislead.
• A bushel is a standard measure of definite contents, and
with it we measure corn. A quart is a legal measure of liquid
quantity, and with it we measure beer. What is a house ? Is
it a common or equable measure of anything? A house is
to the Hottentot a kraal, a wigwam to the Indian, a hovel to
the agricultural labourer, a pig-stye to the poor Irishman, a
tenement of from £\ to ^10 rental to the artisan of Bethnal
Green or Somers Town, a palace in Belgravia or Tyburnia,
a bank, an insurance office, or a warehouse six stories in
height in the City of London. How can we recognize, as
common measures, things differing so greatly in magnitude
and quality as " houses " of undefined size or value ?
DISPARITY IN VALUE OF HOUSES.
45
We find* that, in the undermentioned districts respectively,
there are 24,636 " houses" of from £4 to ^"10 annual value,
viz : —
The Tower Hamlets ...15,644
Southwark Borough ... 4,635
Lambeth Borough 4,224
The City of London ... 133
St. Martin's-in-the-Fields nil.
St. James's, Westminster nil.
These figures shew, conclusively, that thus to estimate
the relative importance of districts, which differ so widely in
their character, must yield fallacious results.
If a "house" is to be made a common measure of fiscal
apportionment, or of relative importance, it must be reduced
to a common value in all the districts, or to a relative value
for each district. The day is gone by for measuring butter
by the yard, the quart and the pound in one and the same
County ; and it is equally unreasonable and unscientific to
treat a house of ^10, and one of ^1,000 annual values,
as equal common measures.
We possess an easy means of ascertaining the relative
value of houses by dividing the rateable value of any district
by the number of houses it contains. We thus find a relative
measure which can be reduced to a common measure for all
the districts.
The following table gives the number of houses in each dis-
trict of the Metropolis — the rateable values of each district — the
average rateable value of a house in each district — shewing also
the relative value of a house in each district — and an equation
of the numbers of houses in each district of the Metropolis, for
the purpose of determining the relative proportion of fiscal
See Electoral Returns, House of Commons, Session 1866.
46
RELATIVE VALUE OF HOUSES.
representation which should be accorded to each, according to
the lowest common value of a house — viz., ^13 per annum : —
QUANTITY AND RENTAL-QUALITY OF THE HOUSES IN THE SEVERAL
DISTRICTS OF THE METROPOLIS, 1 866.
Districts of Metropolitan
Board of Works.
Inhabited
Houses.
Rateable
Value of
Districts.
Rateable
Value per
House.
'Relatire
Number
of £13
Houses.
St. James's, Westminster
City of London
St. Martin's-in-the-Fields
St. George's, Hanover Square
Paddington
Strand
St. Marylebone
St. Giles's
St. John's, Hampstead ,
Kensington
Westminster
Holborn
St. Pancras
Lewisham
Islington
St. Saviour's, Southwark
Chelsea
Clerkenwell
St. Olave's, with Rotherhithe..
Wandsworth
St. George's -in-the-East
Whitechapel
Limehouse
Poplar
St. Luke's
Lambeth
Hackney
Fulham
Shoreditch
Greenwich
Camberwell
St. George's, Southwark
Newington
Bermondsey
Woolwich
Mile-End Old Town
Bethnal Green
3-333
I5.431*
2,240
io,437
9.687
3.742
16,357
4,690
2,653
9,481
6,762
4,176
21,852
10,375
20,704
4.471
8,3i4
7,088
5.730
11,186
6,169
8,664
7.441
11,123
6,356
22,910
13.392
6,645
17,072
13.225
12,098
7.238
12,740
8,220
4,596
10,758
I4.73i
£
462,032
2,109,93s
265,336
1,076,722
758,344
286,808
1,053,748
272,412
147,624
501,132 :
339,66o
194,619 ;
925,872 !
411,260 !
777,632
164,000
299,868
242,254
194,200
361,400
196,917
276,530
234, 608
344-320
186,452
637,000
370,616
171,876
386,044
274,976
250, 000
146,000
240,000
150,000
83,000
191,056
192,116
£
138-62
13673
118-45
103*16
78-28
76-64
64-42
58-08
5S'64
52-85
50-23
46-60
42-37
39'64
37'56
36-68
36*06
34-17
33-89
32-3°
31-92
3I-9i
3i-52
3°'5P
29-33
27-80
27-67
264.1
22#6l
20 -79
20-66
20-17
18-83
18-24
18-05
17-75
13-04
35,540
162,302
20,410
82,824
58,334
22,062
81,057
20,954
11,355
38,548
26,127
14,970
71,220
31,635
59.817
12,615
23,066
18,634
14.938
27,800
15.147
21,271
18,046
26,486
14.342
49,000
28,508
13,221
29,695
21,152
19,230
11,230
18,461
11.538
6,384
14,696
14.778
C orrected figure.
RELATIVE NUMBER OF HOUSES.
47
It will be seen, on reference to the third column of the
above table, that the average rateable value of a house in the
several districts ranges from ^13*04, the lowest (Bethnal
Green), to ^138*62, the highest (St. James's, Westminster).
We therefore take ^13 as our measure of common value, and
re-arrange the districts, as under, in the oider of their relative
importance as ascertained by the number of ^13 houses in
each of the Districts. (See column 4, p. 46.)
DISTRICTS ARRANGED IN THEIR ORDER ACCORDING TO THE
RELATIVE NUMBER OF HOUSES OF ^13 RENTAL.
Number
of £13
Hoow.
Districts.
N'u::.1 -r
of £13
HOOM*.
City of London 162,302
St. George's, Hanover Sq. 82,824
Marylebone 81,057
St. Pancras 71,220
Islington S9.817
Paddington 58,334
Lambeth 49,000
Kensington 38,548
St. James's, Westminster 35,540
Lewisham 31.635
Shoreditch 29.695
Hackney 28,508
Wandsworth 27,800
Poplar 26,486
Westminster 26,137
Chelsea 23,066
Strand 22,062
Whitechapel 21,271
Greenwich 21,152
20. St. Giles's 20,954
2i. St. Martin's 20,410
22. Camberwell 19,230
23. Clerkenwell 18,634
24. Newington 18,461
25. Limehouse 18,046
26. St. George's-in-the-East 15,147
27. Holborn 14.970
28. St. Olave's, with Rother-
hithe I4>938
29. Bethnal Green I4.778
30. Mile-End Old Town ... 14,696
31. St. Luke's 14.342
32. Fulham 13,221
33. St. Saviour's, Southwark 12,615
34. Bermondsey ".SS8
35. St. John's, Hampstead... 11,355
36. St. George's, Southwark 11,230
37. Woolwich 6,384
By this table we find that the City occupies the very highest
place as it regards the number of houses ; that a " house " in
St. James's, Westminster, is equal in rental to \o\ houses in
Bethnal Green ; a " house " in the City is equal to io£ houses
in Bethnal Green ; a " house " in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields
is equal to 9 such houses, and so on for the rest of the
Metropolis — " houses ■ in the Strand, Marylebone, Kensing-
48 DISPLACEMENT NOT DIMINUTION.
ton, Lewisham and Hackney are equal to 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2
houses of £15 rental each, respectively.
If, then, a " house " is to be used as a common measure
of value or of relative importance, we must multiply the
number of houses in Hackney by 2, in Lewisham by 3, in
Kensington by 4, in St. Martin's-in-the-Fields by 9, in the City
by 1 o£, and in St. James's, Westminster, by iof, and so with
the rest ; and we thus obtain, as above, a new series whereby
to estimate the relative importance of the several Metropolitan
Districts and to arrive at the proportion of fiscal representation
which should be apportioned to each. These results are
shewn above ; their practical application will be treated of in
a subsequent chapter.
We have proved that it is fallacious to treat a " house " as
a common measure of value, until it shall have been reduced
by calculation to a definite relative value. We now proceed
to deal with the next fallacy under this head.
Fallacy 2. It is assumed that the displacement of houses
necessarily implies their destruction or diminution in value.
It is true that the number of houses in the City has
decreased ; but it is untruthful to aver that the City has conse-
quently diminished in importance. The reverse is the case, and
that to a very extraordinary extent.
The 17,413 " inhabited " houses in 1811 are said to have
decreased to 13,431 in 1861 ; but the rental of 1811— -
.£565,243 — has increased to £2,109,935 in 1866. Therefore,
the fewer houses of 1866 are worth more by £1,544,692
than the more numerous houses of 181 1. The man who
pulls down his barns to build greater does not neces-
sarily erect as many as those removed ; but he may, if it
IMPRovi ; * HON. 49
pleases him, provide for a much larger storage in fewer
buildings. This is precisely what the citizens of London
have been doing, as any of them could have informed the
matter-of-fact statisticians. They have erected, in half a
century, 3,982 houses less in number than those which have
been removed. But the houses standing in 181 1 were worth
^"32 9s. per house, annual value; they are now (1866) worth
^£"137 each, per annum. They were worth, to capitalize them
at twenty-five years' purchase, in 1811,^14,131,075 ; they are
now (1866) worth by the same process, ^52,748,375. An
increase in value of £"38,617,300 !*
It will be seen that these figures do not bear out the prima
fade case of decay and desolation which had been too hastily
assumed ; they rather inform us that reduction in the number
of houses in the City does not imply obliteration but recon-
struction— accompanied by an ever-increasing augmentation
of value. The report of the House of Commons " Electoral
Returns " of the last Session, corroborates this view. It states
in a foot-note under the head of " City of London :" "There
are 619 blocks of buildings let out as offices and counting-
houses." Some of these blocks of offices, as Gresham House,
East India Avenue, Mincing Lane Chambers, etc., contain
many hundreds of persons, each, during the active hours of
the day. The last thirty years have seen the City of London
nearly re-constructed, by means of public works and private
enterprise ; and another twenty years, at the same rate, will
witness the completion of the transformation. f
* The rateable value of the City (excluding the Temple) is time, 1876,
^■3,051,381; which, at twenty-five years' purchase, gives ^76,284,525,
which shows an increased value since 1S1 1 of no less than £62,153,450 ! !
t The Corporation of London have expended on public works and
1 uildings, and in the formation and improvement of streets within the
4
50 UNINHABITED-HOUSE FALLACY.
The picture presented is the very reverse of that which
abused statistics would appear to make out. Piles of build-
ings— banks, insurance and other offices — of elegant archi-
tectural elevation and symmetrical proportions, present the
external aspect of palaces; while shops and stores, which
for solidity of construction and capacity of storage throw the
humbler buildings of the past into the shade, are rising on
every hand. The circumstances of the City — and the same
may be said of Westminster, with its club-houses and public
offices — are not very dissimilar from those which drew from
the Emperor Augustus the boast —
" I found Rome brick, and I left it marble."
So much for the fallacy which confounds displacement
with desolation.
Fallacy 3. The term " ^inhabited house " of the census
tables, does not mean " uninhabited," but something else.
If by that term, so used, it is intended to imply that the
houses referred to were untenanted or unoccupied, it is
clearly a misnomer — a misapplication of terms. An unin-
habited house is not chargeable for rates and taxes ; but we
find that nearly the whole of the houses returned in the census
tables of the City as uninhabited — certainly 2,000 of 2,057 — ,
City, from 1759 (from which date a separate account has been kept) to 1876,
a sum exceeding q\ millions. The entire lines of frontage from London
Bridge to Finsbury Pavement, and that from Blackfriars Bridge to
Farringdon Road, both intersecting the City from North to South,
have been reconstructed within the above period. The same may be said
of the line from King William Street, westerly along Cannon Street to
Saint Paul's. Bartholomew Lane, Lothbury and Threadneedle Street, in
the neighbourhood of the Bank and the Royal Exchange, have been, in like
manner, re-edified ; and the Holborn Viaduct has been constructed.
Queen Victoria Street, connecting Blackfriars Bridge with the Mansion
House, has also been formed by the Metropolitan Board of Works.
UNINHABITED HOUSES OCCUPIED, AND RATED. 5 1
are claimed by the Parochial, Clerical and Municipal autho-
rities as their lawful prey; and, which is more remarkable,
they are assessed to, and pay, Property and Income-tax.
They are therefore known to the fiscal authorities of the
Government as inhabited, whilst they are treated by the regis-
tration authorities of the Government as "uninhabited" They
are, moreover, well known to be full of valuable property, and
to be crowded with inhabitants during the active hours of the
day. Every house, we have a right to contend, is occupied
which has its tenant-occupier — whether he uses it as a dormi-
tory, a workshop or a counting-house. Even a pig- stye,
though its pig may have gone out for the night, has its tenant-
occupier — as any Poor Rate collector would inform us.
The fact is, that the houses referred to are occupied or
inhabited in every sense of the word ; but their owners prefer
to leave them at night without any person in charge, trusting
to the vigilance of the City Police, and setting the risks of
so doing against the cost and risks of keeping a night watch-
man or other servant on the premises.
It is worthy of notice that, since the establishment of the
present City force, a large increase of houses, so left, has taken
place, shewing the growing confidence in the protection
afforded by the Municipal guardians of the peace.
There is no parallel to this fact elsewhere — that 2,000
houses (a number exceeding the whole number of houses in
many of our second-class cities), mostly containing property
of immense value, and which would, under other circum-
stances, be in the care and custody of 17,000 persons (8 \ to
a house), are abandoned at night to the sole charge of the
passing policeman.
"52 HOW DESCRIBED BY THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL.
And the saving to the citizens by this practice is of
considerable importance. Assuming that ^75 per annum
would be the average cost of a person of unimpeachable
character left in charge — to include salary, or wages, fire and
candle — the saving upon, say 2,000 houses, would be ^15 0,000
per annum — a sum thrice the annual cost of the City Police
force.
It is not necessary for us to observe that the figures of the
Registrar-General are universally, and justly so, relied upon
for accuracy and fairness. There appears, however, to have
been an unfortunate exceptional treatment of the subject of
^inhabited houses, as it regards the City of London. The
census returns for the whole City give 2,057 of such houses ;
but a foot-note explains, that in the central district alone,
" at least 1,200 or 1,300 houses are occupied during the day, but
left tenantless at night, under the general surveillance of the
police."* Now, as it appears, on the authority of the census
officials themselves, that the great majority of such houses
were "occupied" and that only the exceptional minority
were unoccupied, it would seem to have been more in
conformity with established usage, and certainly less per-
plexing to statisticians, if that, which appears to be the rule,
had been set forth in the tables, and the exceptions had been
dealt with in the foot-note. If this treatment of the subject
had been adopted, there would not have been afforded so
much opportunity for mis-statement, as to the increasing
number of tenantless houses within the City.
We have shewn, then, under three heads, that the number
Census Tables, 1861. Div. I., p. 204.
DECADENCE OF THE CI IV PURELY IMAGINARY. 53
of houses, as stated in the census returns, does not afford
reliable data as to the relative importance of the City of
London to the rest of the Metropolis ; that, as it regards the
number of houses of a specified value, the City stands rela-
tively at the head of the districts of the Metropolis ; that the
alleged decadence and desolation of the City are purely
imaginary ; and that a great — indeed, an unprecedented —
advance is taking place in all that constitutes wealth, value,
and rateable position. Incidentally, we have obtained in-
formation as to the relative values of houses within the
Metropolis, which we shall turn to account in a subsequent
chapter.
CHAPTER IV.
THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THE CITY — DETERMINED BY
its RATEABLE VALUE, and the magnitude of its
TRADE and COMMERCE.
THE City of London stands at the head of the several
districts of the Metropolis, as it regards rateable value.
The rateable annual value, as settled by the Metropolitan
Board of Works for the main-drainage rate for 1866, fixes its
rental at £2,109,935. The rental for the whole Metropolis is
£15,252,767. The rental, therefore, of the City of London
is nearly one-seventh of that of the whole Metropolis.
The rateable value of the City of London is continually on
the increase. Subsequently to 181 1, the rateable value increased
from ,£565,243 to £1,203,466 in 1856 — the year of the first
assessment of the Metropolitan Board of Works — being an
increase of £638,223, or at the average rate of £"14,182 per
annum. Since 1856, we have the opportunity of shewing the
annual rate of increase in relation to the Metropolis. We
find that, whilst the City has increased its rental from
£1,203,466 in 1856, to £2,109,935 in 1866, the whole Metro-
polis has only increased from £11,283,663 in 1856, to
See note, p. 43, for further increase to 1876.
INCREASE IN CITY'S RATEABLE VALUE. 55
^"15,252,767 in 1866; and we consequently arrive at the second
conclusion — that the City of London has, since 1856, increased
in rateable value in a much greater degree than the whole of
the Metropolis. For, the City has increased its rental 75*31
per cent, while the whole Metropolis, including the City, has
only increased at the rate of 35*17 per cent. — the excess in
favour of the City being 40-14 per cent.
If the rateable value of the City be compared with that
of the Metropolis, omitting the City, the increase in the rate-
able value of the City will be more apparent. The increase
in value of the whole Metropolis, between 1856 and 1866,
was ^3,969,104; from this deduct ^906,469, the increase in
the City, and the net increase in the value of the Metropolitan
rental will be seen to be ^3, 062, 635. The increase of the
City to that of the rest of the Metropolis will, therefore, be as
75*31 per cent, is to 30*38 per cent. — a ratio of increase in
favour of the City of 44*93 {say 45) per cent, in a period of ten
years.
It should be stated, however, that several important dis-
tricts of the Metropolis have not been re-assessed since the
year 1865, and others, on the south of the Thames, since
the year 1861. Some allowance by way of addition must
therefore be made to the ratio of increase in the rateable value
of the Metropolitan districts ; but with all this allowance, an
enormous increase in the ratio of the augmented value of the
City, will be undoubtedly shewn.
It appears that, not only has a considerable increase of
Rateable value taken place within the City, but testing the
amount of increase at various periods, we find, further, that
an augmenting ratio of increase is constantly taking place —
as the following figures will demonstrate : —
56
RATIOS OF INCREASE SINCE 1 77 1.
City's
Rateable
Value.
Increase.
Eatio of Increase
per cent.
In Period.
Per Annum.
In
the year 1771*
£
457.701
£
Years
1801*
507.372
49.671
30
io-8
•36
1831*
792,904
285,532
30 '
56'2
1*
i86if ...
1,279,887
486,983
30
61 -4
2 0
1866+ ...
2.109,935
830,048
5
64-8
129
It will be seen that the increase in the first period of
30 years was at the rate of '$6 per cent, per annum ; in the
second period, at the rate of i '8 per cent, per annum ; in the
third period, at the rate of over 2 per cent, per annum j while
in the latter period of 5 years the increase is at the rate of
1 2 -9 per cent, per annum, or nearly 65 per cent, for a period of
5 years.
This does not look like the depopulation of the City at an
early date, as some have been assuming ; nor does it bear out
the conclusions of official blue-books as to the waning of the
City in its relative importance to the Metropolis.
Had we inverted the order of our topics in this chapter,
there would have been little occasion to adduce evidence of
the rising value of the City's rateable property. That value
is the inevitable effect of a cause to which we shall now
advert— the vastness of the Trade and Commerce of the City of
London.
* From Second Report, Commissioners of the Municipal Corporations,
[837, p. 176.
f Return of Metropolitan Board of Works, 19th October, 1866.
THE CONSEQUENXES OF INCREASED CE. 57
The City is to a great extent, but not at all exclusive!
a place of Trade — the market to which resort, daily and every
day, some 700,000 persons — all of whom, whatever may be
their object in visiting the City, contribute more or less
humbly or largely to its trade, by supplying within its limits,
the wants of themselves and their families as it regards many
of the necessities or luxuries of life.
It is, further, the central and chief market in the Metro-
polis for provisions. Billingsgate purveys for all London
in the matter of fish, and the vans, which now bring from
the railways three-fourths of all the food of this class
(formerly conveyed by water-carriage), constitute one of the
most formidable hindrances to locomotion during certain
hours of the day. Newgate* and Leadenhall markets are, in
their way, unequalled in the supply of dead-meat, poultry,
game and other requisites of the table ; and the vast transac-
tions connected with these markets contribute no inconsider-
able amount to the trade of the City. Within its limits also
are the only markets for Corn and Coal within the Metropolis.
The statistics of these varied interests would form an interesting
chapter ; but they must be passed by, for, important as they
are, they occupy only a subordinate place in relation to the
City of London.
It is the Commerce of London — its traffic with foreign and
distant parts, its interchange of commodities with every
quarter of the globe, which makes the City what it is — the
busiest, most enterprising and most wealthy emporium of
either ancient or modern times.
Unaided by figures, it would be impossible to convey an
* Removed since 1866 ; but the much larger " Central Meat and
Poultry Markets " at Smithfield supply its place.
58 CUSTOMS' DUTIES OF LONDON
adequate or accurate idea of the vastness to which the Com-
mercial and Monied interests of the City have attained. As
Tyre, of old, was seated at the point of confluence of the
merchandise of three continents, so, upon the shores of the
Thames, converge the commerce and commodities of two
hemispheres ; or rather we should say, upon its Northern
shore, for to the City tends, and from its limits emanate,
almost without exception, the Commerce of the Metropolis.
This is the specialty of the City of London. Its Trade is
enormous, but it shares it with other districts of London ; its
population and rateable value, in proportion to area, are
unequalled elsewhere, but all these conditions of magnitude,
" pale their ineffectual fires " in the presence of the vastness of
its Commercial enterprise.
A glimpse at the following tables, compiled from the pub-
lished Reports of the Customs' Commissioners, will render
further arguments unnecessary on this head. Great as are
the commercial transactions of the other ports of the Empire,
London swallows up the whole of them — tested by the amount
of Customs' Duties which her Commerce contributes.
Ports. Amount of Customs' Duties (1864).
£ £
London 11,491,412
Liverpool 2,893,445^
Other Ports in England... 3,239,202 /
Ports in Scotland 2,826,8271 ' '79
Ports in Ireland 2,047,324/
Excess of London, in 1864, over all the
ports of the Empire ^484,614
EXCEED THOSE OF THE REST OF THE KINGDOM. 59
Receipt of Customs in the United Kingdom ; Lon
contrasted with all other Ports — 1856 to 1864.
All Ports of the
United Kingdom. London alone.
£ £
1856 24,206,844 12,287,529
l857 22,956,171 11,465,989
1858 24,155,852 12,332,061
1859 25,065,066 12,740,242
i860 23,165,764 11,781,819
1861 23,657,513 n,9°5»555
1862 23,993,546 12,156,115
1863 23,588,932 11,974,397
1864 22,498,211 11,491,412
Aggregate ^213,287,899 ^108,134,119
Annual Average ^23,698,655 ^12,014,902
Port of London, annually ;£i 2,014,902
All other Ports, annually 11,683,753
Average Annual excess of London,
over the aggregate of all the other
Ports of the Empire ;£33I>I49
The whole of the enormous Commerce which contributes
the above average of ;£i 2,000,000 Customs' Duties annually,
is connected locally (excepting an amount quite unappreciable)
with the City of London.
That the Mercantile greatness of the City of London is
not consequent upon the decay of commerce elsewhere —
but that it is inherent to the growing importance of the City
and port of London, will be apparent by the following table,
shewing the growth of commerce at various ports of England.
6o
PROFITS OF TRADE OF CITY.
The rise of Ports in England,* as shewn by Customs'
Duties paid in the years 1780 and 1864 respectively.
Ports.
17804
1864.
Increase.
Liverpool
£
59,419
18,966
5,123
13,183
4,541
7,100
147,834-
4,177
13,121
991
13,710
49,384
2,553
16,136
4,410
12,584
1
2,893,445
335,750
67,150
178,738
36,538
64,299
1,209,690
31,948
109,692
6,920
88,880
255,769
9,875
64,188
13,830
23,700
48 fold
18 fold
13 fold
13 fold
8 fold
9 fold
8 fold
8 fold
8 fold
7 fold
7 fold
5 fold
4 fold
4 fold
3 fold
2 fold
Newark
Chester
Plymouth
Boston
Rochester
Bristol
Ipswich
Exeter
Bridgewater
Southampton
Hull
Weymouth
Whitehaven
Colchester
Portsmouth
The local Trade and Commerce of the City may be
measured, relatively to the Metropolis, by another method.
The Income-tax returns, under Schedule D, afford an
insight into the relative importance of the several districts of
the Metropolis, measured by their profits of trade. The
Metropolis — subdivided upon a different arrangement for
every fiscal and other purpose — remains, as it regards the
Inland Revenue, divisible into the ancient Cities of London
and Westminster, the Borough of Southwark and the several
Hundreds which surround them. By the courtesy of the
Commissioners of Inland Revenue we are enabled to place the
Trading profits of the City in contrast with those of the other
* The rise of Scotch and Irish ports not obtainable for the same interval,
f MSS. Brit. Mus., presented by Sir W. Musgrave, Bart.
PROFITS OF TRADE GREATEST IN THE CITY. 61
divisions of the Metropolis, for the year 1865 — the last com-
plete year obtainable. The following are the results —
Amount of Profits charged to Income-Tax under
Schedule D.*— 1865.
Divisions of the Metropolis. Amounts.
£
The City of London 23,053,600
The Inns of Courtf 922,828
The City of Westminster 5>273>°99
Southwark 649,433
Bloomsbury, Finsbury and Holborn 4,052,915
Kensington 837,246
Marylebone 1,253,898
Tower Divisions 2,736,929
Brixton, Four Divisions (including
Lambeth) 2,411,113
Blackheath (including Greenwich) 834,8 1 7
Total ^42,025,878
The City of London ^23,053,600
The rest of the Metropolis 18,972,278
Excess of profits of the City over all
the rest of Metropolis ^4,081,322
* This Schedule does not include dividends on public stocks and funds,
nor profits of mines, railways, docks, etc. ; which are charged under other
schedules.
f Chiefly within the Liberties of the City.
62 TONNAGE OF SHIPPING.
Another method of shewing the relative importance of the
City's Trade and Commerce, consists in obtaining the amount
and tonnage of the shipping frequenting the port of London.
In this respect, the East of London divides with the City the
importance which the shipping interest confers on the
Metropolis — the docks being situated in the former region,
whilst the commerce, capital and enterprise which sustain
and employ the shipping, belong almost exclusively to the
City proper.
The annexed table of the Number and Tonnage of Ships,
British and Foreign, entered inwards and outwards, in London
and the other ports of England and Wales,* in the year
1865, shews London to be at the head of all other ports, as it
regards the amount of its shipping interest. f (Vide tabular
folding sheet annexed.)
We extract from that table the following list of the
Tonnages of the larger Ports — i.e., of Ports returning over
one million tons in 1865 : —
* From Return to House of Commons, 29th May, Session 1866.
t How is it, that in the return alluded to, London is invariably placed
out of the alphabetical order, which determines the places of all other ports
in England and Wales ? Why is it also placed at the foot of a list which
proclaims that it stands first in relative importance ? Has the Board of
Trade become a convert to the notion, that Kensington has superseded
London City as it regards amount and tonnage of its shipping? We
commend the subject to Messrs. Rothschild, Crawford and Goschen,
commercial members for the decayed City, in Parliament.
LONDON AT THE HEAD OF THE PORTS. 63
Ports. Tons.
Port of London 1 0,46 1,195
Liverpool 8,235,152
„ Newcastle 4,978,003
„ Sunderland 2,836,100
Cardiff 2,465,215
„ Hull 1,922,998
„ Hartlepool 1,513,934
„ Swansea 1,494,836
„ Bristol 1,204,248
„ Southampton 1,084,369
„ Newport 1,037,154
It will be observed that London occupies the highest
position of any port, by over 2,200,000 tons of Shipping.
Whether, therefore, we test the relative importance of the
City by. its Rateable value or by its Trade and Commerce,
whether we measure the latter by the amount of Customs'
Duties paid, the Profits of Trade or the Tonnage of Shipping,
we find the City and its interests occupying, not only the
foremost place in the Metropolis, but the highest position in
the United Kingdom.
To recapitulate. — We have shewn in the preceding
chapters by a fair application of statistics :
1. That the City stands at the head of the several
districts of the Metropolis, as it regards Population.
64 RECAPITULATION.
2. That it stands at the head of every other district of
the Metropolis — as it regards its number of Houses —
measuring them by a common and uniform standard.
3. That it is also at the head, as it regards the amount
of its Taxable Rental.
4. That such Rental is equal to about one-seventh of that
of the whole Metropolis.
5. That such Rental has increased in a much greater
ratio than that of the rest of the Metropolis.
6. That the value of the rateable property of the
City has increased — between 181 1 and 1866 — no less
a sum than thirty-eight millions six hundred thousand
pounds /•
7. That the amount of Customs' Duties paid in the Port
of London, has, for many years past, exceeded the
sum paid, in the aggregate, by every other port in
England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
8. That the amount of the Profits of Trade of the City
exceeds, by ^£4,000,000 annually, those of the rest of
the Metropolis.
9. And, that the amount of the Tonnage of the Shipping
of the port of London far exceeds that of any other
port in the Empire.
And this is the City whose population is "year by year
decreasing," and which is soon to be eclipsed by the increasing
glories of Kensington — as the stars are extinguished by the
rising sun. This is the City, " the population of which would,
certainly, not entitle it to stand alone."
* Or, between 181 1 and 1876, no less a sum than £62,153,450 ! !
THE CITY " STANDS ALONE." 65
It does " stand alone," notwithstanding j and in respect of
population, houses, rental, trade, commerce, shipping and
relative importance, " stands alone " — second to no District of
the Metropolis, to no City or Town of the Empire.
That it " stands alone " in unenviable criminal notoriety is
also asserted by the highest " authority " of the Metropolitan
Police — to such an extent that all its registered residents
should, long ere this, have fallen victims to the knife of the
assassin. Whether this be as stated, we must endeavour to
ascertain in the succeeding chapter.
CHAPTER V.
CRIME IN THE CITY AND THE METROPOLIS — THE COST AND
EFFICIENCY OF THE CITY AND METROPOLITAN POLICE FORCES.
THE City of London, as we have shewn, stands at the
head of the Districts of the Metropolis as it regards
population to area — it is first in respect of the number of
houses of a specified rateable value — it occupies the highest
position, beyond all comparison, as it regards the amount of its
commerce, and is at the head also in respect of its profits of
trade j its rateable value is in advance of that of any other
Metropolitan district, and is progressing at a ratio greater than
the increase elsewhere. The real-property value of the City
has increased, as we have proved, between 1811 and 1866,
from Fourteen to Fifty-two and three-quarters millions ! *
All this would, prima facie, indicate sound commercial
prosperity, and suggest ample and remunerative employment
for capital and labour — and the consequent diminution of
temptation to crime. Especially would this be assumed to
be the case, if it were shewn that, as it regards religious and
moral appliances, the City stands unquestionably at the head
in these respects also, when compared with the other districts
of London.
* Or. between 18 11 and 1876, from Fourteen to over Seventy -six Millions ! I
( Vide note, p. 49. )
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES. 67
The City — about one square mile in area — possesses the
following Religious ahd moral advantages, which have been
ascertained by actual enumeration : —
Churches, Officiating
Chapels and Clergy and
Synagogues. Ministers.
The Cathedral (with which 78 officials
are connected, but of whom,
say, 6 are employed in the daily
service) ... ... ... 1 6
Parish Churches ... ... ... 70
Rectors, Vicars, and Incumbents 74
Curates and Assistants ... ... ... 33
Lecturers ... ... ... ... 29
Chapels of various denominations
and Synagogues ... ... 33
Ministers, various ... ... ... 34
Roman Catholic and Greek Priests ... . . 6
Jewish Rabbis, English and Foreign ... 9
Total Churches, Chapels and
Synagogues ... ... 104
Total officiating Clergy, Min-
isters and others ... ... ... 191
We find, then, within the limited area of the City, one
hundred and four buildings, and one hundred and ninety-one
persons exclusively devoted to religious and moral instruction ;
and, as we are informed and believe, that there is at least one
school — National, British or Denominational — connected with
each parish or place of worship, and as moreover there are
four large public schools within the City — to wit, the Blue
Coat, St. Paul's, the City of London and the Merchant
Taylors' (containing in all 1,858 scholars) — it will not be
denied that the City surpasses any district of similar area
as it regards religious and educational advantages.
68 CRIMINALITY OF THE CITIZENS.
How are we startled then, to be informed that the City of
London, under the apparently satisfactory condition which the
facts above stated disclose, is nevertheless a hot-bed of crime —
that its inhabitants have become so morally depraved that the
figures of the Home Secretary's "Judicial Statistics" as it
regards the City, being placed before an eminent Actuary, he
is constrained to declare that every adult of the population
must, on the average, have been charged with crime at least
thrice in the course of his or her natural life.
Sir Richard Mayne, Chief Commissioner of the Metro-
politan Police, in a letter addressed to Sir George Grey,
confirms this lamentable state of things, and attributes it to
the inefficiency of the City Police force. He tells us " Crimes
in the City are upwards of 156 per cent, higher than in the
Metropolitan district." Again he says, testing the matter by
another method, " Crimes in the City are upwards of 208 per
cent, higher than in the Metropolitan district." Again,
" Crimes are in the City as 3 ; in the Metropolitan district as 1."
As it regards the graver crimes — attempts to murder, and
stabbing with intent, etc., — he makes the following appalling
statement, " In the City the numbers are in the ratio of 1 to
2 6 8, or 271 per cent, of the population ! "
We could proceed further, but this must suffice for our
present purpose, to shew that, upon high authority, crime of the
most alarmingly flagrant character is rampant in the City —
side by side with apparent prosperity, full employment of the
people, remunerative Trade and Commerce, and most abun-
dant Religious, Moral and Educational advantages.
Here we are, for the third time, involved in difficulties and
perplexities which are apparently insoluble ; and we can only
SIR RICHARD MAYNK's UTTER OF 1 863. 69
extricate ourselves by assuming that the mere matter-of-fact
statisticians have been at their work again; and that, as is
their wont, they have pinned their faith on the assumed
omnipotence of figures to solve every problem, irrespective of
logical deduction, common observation and common sense.
It is discreditable to the age in which we live, to the boasted
advance of education amongst us, and to the assumed intel-
ligence of our public men, to find statements so monstrous as
those which we have just quoted, made on official authority ;
and that, not hastily or unguardedly, but after mature reflection,
and when three years have actually passed since their original
promulgation. It is humiliating to discover that such state-
ments have been seriously submitted to a Select Committee of
the House of Commons, and not only so, but entertained by
them with all gravity, indorsed by their authority, submitted
to the House of Commons, and printed " by Order " of that
Honourable House.
The statements quoted formed part of a letter, dated
June 1, 1863, which Sir Richard Mayne addressed to Sir
George Grey, as Home Secretary. In the course of the
summer of 1863 it found its way into the columns of the
newspapers, and after a little good-natured criticism of its
contents, and a few laughs over its obvious mistakes, it was
not heard of until recently, when it, or rather an extract from
it, appeared within the protecting blue covers of the Second
Report of the Select Committee on " Metropolitan Local
Government and Taxation" — a Committee presided over by
a gentleman, usually so well informed as the Hon. Member
for the Tower Hamlets.
It made its re-appearance in this wise : — Mr. Edwin
/O MR. EDWIN CHAD WICK :
Chadwick being under examination before the Committee
above alluded to, on the general subject of Metropolitan
Administration and Taxation, expressed an opinion very
unfavourable to the efficiency and economy of the City Police
Force ; and in reply to the Question (No. 6,596) " Do you state
your opinion from any statistics which you have obtained upon
the subject ? " he said, " There was a very decided statement
made by Sir Richaad Mayne which exhibited statistics on the
subject ; and I know, if Sir Richard Mayne gives statistics,
that I can rely upon them." He then handed in the extract
of Sir Richard Mayne's letter, to which we have referred, and
thus unkindly and officiously unearthed the allegations, which
hitherto the good sense of the late Home Secretary had permit-
ted to remain within the innermost recesses of his department.
The indirect and circumlocutory manner in which evidence
so serious was introduced to the Committee is very remark-
able, and we hope unusual. We should have supposed that
testimony, as to the cost and efficiency of the Police, would
have been sought at the mouth of a person possessing some
little experience gathered in connection with a similar force ;
or, at all events, that matters so serious as to involve a charge
against every inhabitant of the City of having been guilty of
the gravest crimes known to the law, would have been obtained
from a witness in some way personally acquainted with the
facts spoken of — or resident within or familiar with the City —
or connected, in some respects, with its Courts of Criminal
Judicature, its prisons, or its scaffold. But no ! A trifling
matter of a few thousand attempts to murder, within the
twelve months, is not of sufficient importance to require direct
personal testimony or individual cognizance of the facts. It
is spoken of by the witness, evidently to his own perfect
HIS KNOWLEDGE OF POUCB MATTERS. 71
satisfaction, and, apparently, to the satisfaction of the Sel
Committee. "/ knaiu? says the witness, "that (rime ifl
greater and detection less frequent in the City than in the
rest of the Metropolis." " I know if Sir Richard gives
statistics, that I can rely upon them ; " but why all this indirect
evidence as to what is known about another's credibility?
It reminds us of —
11 1 know a man, who knows another,
Who knew the very party's brother ; "
for, when pressed for the source of his knowledge, the witness
fell back upon something which he must have cut from a
newspaper, and which once, in an unguarded moment, Sir
Richard Mayne had addressed to Sir George Grey. There
was obtained from the witness no evidence of any personal
knowledge whatever as to the very grave, scandalous — and we
may add libellous — charges which were submitted to the Select
Committee.
It would thus appear that Sir Richard Mayne has been
unkindly used in this respect. His letter, written in 1863,
under circumstances of haste and excitement, was seen upon
calmer reflection, to be unsuited for publication ; and he is
now placed in an unfavourable position by its resuscitation,
uncorrected and unrevised, through the officious intervention
of Mr. Edwin Chad wick — a gentleman entirely unconnected
with the Police organization.
It is difficult to imagine that Sir George Grey, who
kept the letter, all these years, in his bureau, and his Under-
Secretaries who sat on the Select Committee, were unaware of
its contents ; and we should rather assume that they had agreed
to suppress it as a document which it was inexpedient to
72 SUPPRESSION OF THE LETTER.
publish ; if we concluded otherwise, we should convict them of
grave dereliction of duty. For, if the statements contained in
the letter, and which we have quoted, were well founded, any
officer of the Crown charged with the maintenance and vin-
dication of law and order, and with the protection of life,
would most seriously compromise himself by concealing, for so
long a period, so frightful a state of crime as that which was
asserted in 1863 to exist in the very heart of the Queen's
dominions — a condition of criminality so frightful, if correctly
stated, that long ere this, the whole registered population of
the City must have perished either by the hand of the assassin
or by that of the hangman.
We are compelled therefore to conclude that the late
Secretary of State for the Home Department suppressed the
letter in question, and that Sir Richard Mayne concurred with
him in the propriety of thus putting out of sight an un-
fortunate and untimely production, that the "concealment
of birth " was intended kindly, and may be considered, upon
the whole, judicious.
It is under the circumstances of the unfortunate re-appear-
ance of the document, indorsed as it has been by the authority
of the House of Commons, that we are called upon to devote
a chapter to the subject of Crime and Police in the Metropolis
and the City of London : it having formed no part of our
original intention to have touched upon those topics in
connection with our statistical expositions.
The difficult task now devolves upon us to deal with the
intricacies of a subject which, fairly treated, is plain and simple
enough j but which has been rendered difficult to handle on
account of the multitude of the mistakes and of the magni-
OMITTED PARAGRAPHS OF LETTER. 73
tude of the fallacies which have been imported into its
consideration.
Before proceeding to deal with the allegations of the letter
alluded to, it should be stated that it does not appear in the
Report of the . Select Committee on Metropolitan Local
Government and Taxation, in the usual shape of a letter, with
the signature of the writer attached ; nor is the letter entire as
originally written — the earlier paragraphs, as well as the
whole of the Schedules A to F, and the Appendices I. to V.
being omitted.
The document is headed, " Paper handed in by Mr. Edwin
Chadwick, C.B." — "Comparative cost and results of the
Metropolitan and the City Corporation Police Forces." —
" Statistical return referred to in answer to Question 6,542."
"Extract from a Letter by Sir Richard Mayne to Sir George Grey."
The following are the paragraphs omitted (the Schedules
A to F, and the Appendices I. to V., also omitted, will be found
in our Appendix): —
"Sir George Grey, G.C.B."
"Sir,
"As the opportunity to correct erroneous statements publicly made as
" to the comparative cost and efficiency of the Metropolitan Police and the
"Police of the City of London has not been afforded by the discussion in
" Parliament of the Bill for the proposed union of the City and Metropolitan
"Police, I deem it my duty to make the truth known from the official
" returns which I shall now lay before you.
" I had occasion lately to call your attention to an error in the last
"volume of the 'Judicial Statistics/ presented to Parliament for the year
" 1861, as to the average annual cost per man of the Metropolitan and City
" Police Force, which was stated to be ^78 3s. 2d. in the Metropolitan, and
"^79 4s. 7d. in the City Police, making the difference only^i is. $3L These
"results were obtained by dividing the total expenditure of the respective
74 MAKING "THE TRUTH KNOWN."
"establishments by the number of the police of each force, but in the ac-
counts of the expenditure of the Metropolitan Police Establishment, there
"are several sums of very large amount which do not relate to the cost of
' ' the police constable, and there are none similar in the City Police
" accounts, on which the calculation was made with regard to the City
" force ; the error will be corrected in the forthcoming volume of 'Judicial
' * Statistics.
' ' The return annexed (A) states the several heads of expenditure which
"ought not to be included, and the return (B) gives the total expenditure
* ' under all the heads which ought to be included in calculating the cost
'* per man of the Metropolitan Police Force. The return (C) gives the
' ' total expenditure under corresponding heads in the City Police
" accounts. "
Comment upon these omissions might have been spared us
(we rather think their subject matter is reiterated in con-
siderable detail subsequently), but that in the opening para-
graph Sir Richard Mayne most clearly and most creditably
avows as his motive in writing the letter, the discharge of his
duty in making " the truth known " from the official sources
at his command. A public servant could not be actuated by
a nobler motive, and, however feebly he may have discharged
this duty, and however imperfectly he may have applied
statistical principles to the promulgation of official truth, he
cannot but rejoice at our humbler effort towards making the
truth he loves better known by our correction of some of the
mistakes which, probably in the hurry of business, had
escaped him ; and some of the conclusions to which he had
been led by mere inadvertence.
The correction of the " error " in " Judicial Statistics,"
adverted to by Sir Richard, is of sufficient importance to be
hereafter dealt with and fully quoted. We proceed, therefore,
to our examination of that portion of the letter presented to
public notice by Mr. Chadwick and the Commons' Committee
of 1866.
COST OF THE POLICE PER MAN. 75
In order to the full and fair examination of this important
document, it is proposed to reprint it, paragraph by paragraph,
using the marginal notes of the letter as headings, and dealing
with the subject matter of each paragraph seriatim. It should
be observed that the comparison is based, by Sir Richard,
upon the expenditure and other particulars of the Police for
the year 1861.
Paragraph I. — " Cost per Man of the City and Metropolitan
Police Force."
"The expenditure for the Metropolitan Police, amounting 10^400,389,
"divided by 6, 116, the number of the Metropolitan Police Force in the
" Metropolitan divisions, exclusive of those employed in the Dockyard and
" War Department Stations, gives an annual cost of ^65 9s. 3d. for each
' ' man ; and the expenditure for the City Police, amounting to £$, 1 72,
" divided by 608, the number of the City Police, gives an annual cost for
11 each man of ^79 4s. 7d. The cost of each man is, therefore, £13 5s. 4d.,
" or 21 per cent, higher in the City Police. The difference of cost thus
1 ' shewn, arises partly from the higher rate of pay, and cost of clothing,
"equipments, etc., amounting to £j 5s. 7d. per man, and the remainder is
1 ' from the greater expense of the establishment for the management of the
"City Police."
The basis of this calculation is difficult to verify. The official
volume of "Judicial Statistics"* for 1861, states (page 2) the
" total costs " of the Metropolitan Police Establishment at
,£481,302 us. 9d., and the total number of the Police Force
(exclusive of those employed in the Dockyard and War
Department stations, namely, 663) at 6,158. These figures of
the Home Secretary differ from those of Sir Richard Mayne ;
for the one return is based upon the account of the year
ending at Michaelmas, and the other upon the year ending
31st December, 1861. To this, we presume, must be attri-
buted the difference of £8,355 7s. 6d., which appears upon
* The official criminal statistics, published annually by the Home
Secretary.
76 sir Richard's reduction of total cost —
deduction of the items amounting to ,£72,558 2s. id. (of which
hereafter) from the cost stated in " Judicial Statistics " —
which sum the Chief Commissioner claims to abate, so' as to
bring down the "total cost" to £400,389 2s. 3d. There yet
remains a discrepant sum of £70 7s., for the total items in
Table B of Sir R. Mayne's letter, amount, rightly cast, to the
sum of £400,459 9s. 3d.
Having, for argument's sake, given the Chief Commissioner
credit for all he claims to have a right to deduct from the
" total cost " of his Police Establishment, we now inquire —
why he should deduct any portion of the expenses from the
total cost? He does not deny the expenditure of all the
money, or that it was expended upon his Police Establish-
ment ; and if we deal alike with both Forces, what claim can
justly be urged by either, without denying the figures or the
facts, to reduce the total costs by any sum, under any pretence
whatever.
It will be understood that the question at issue is not the
proper expenditure of the public money, but whether it was
expended as officially stated. The Schedule A, before referred
to, enumerates items which " should be excluded in estimating
the cost per man of the Metropolitan Police Force." This is
a poor evasion of the fact in dispute. Concede for a moment
all that is asked : the question remains — should any one of the
items in the schedule be excluded in estimating the total cost
of the Metropolitan Police Establishment? The question
raised by the Commissioner is not one of opinion, or of taste,
as regards matter of account, but one of fact. What was
the actual amount expended on the Metropolitan Force for the
year 1861, and what did it amount to per man of that
Force, as charged to the ratepayers ?
BY CERTAIN SPECIFIED DEDUCTIONS. 77
The deductions claimed are seven in number ; of four of
these — viz. :
" Medical attendance and medicines for destitute
prisoners " £li°99 J7 °
" Refreshments for destitute prisoners, and
other small contingencies " I>323 l9 J°
u Extraordinary expenses incurred in the
pursuit, apprehension and conveyance of
prisoners" 3>4X5 5 °
" Expenses and allowances on special occasions,
and on duties out of the district " (not reim-
bursed to the Force) 805 19 9
— it has only to be said, that these contingencies are as appli-
cable to one Force as to the other, and the like expenses are
incurred by the City Force, although the items may not be
separately stated. Is it to be contended that destitute
prisoners are left in the City to perish for want of food or
medical attendance? Are the "small contingencies," which
we find include "searching female prisoners, candles for
stations, sawdust and straw for cells, washing towels,"*
never incurred at the City stations? Are criminals never
pursued and brought to justice by the City Police ?
The total amount of these items is ^6,645 is. 7d.
The fifth item is—
" Horses, forage, saddlery, etc., and vans, ^8,491 15s. 6d."
The City Force has no such charge, not having occasion
for mounted police j nor would the Metropolitan Force need
horses if the ground were adequately covered with a foot
* Sir Richard Mayne's Return to House of Commons, 1861, p. 7.
78 DEDUCTIONS CONTINUED I
police j but because of the insufficiency of their body to the
extent of the area to be covered, it is considered economical to
enable a few policemen to be stationed at places distant from
each other, by mounting a certain number of them ; thus the
cost of horses economises the cost of enlisting and paying an
increased number of men. If the cost of horses, therefore,
be omitted, then the pay of the men should, for purposes of
comparison, be proportionably increased.
The sixth item is —
"Erection and purchase of premises, ,£15,179 2s. 2d."
The premises necessary to each Force must either be pur-
chased, erected, or rented. In each case the outlay is incurred;
and in neither case can the debit in account be evaded.
Observe also, that if Sir Richard is to deduct £15,179 in
1 86 1, for "purchase and erection," then he should add the
" rent " to this and every succeeding account — which he has
not done.
The seventh item runs thus —
" Deficiency of Police superannuation fund, £42,242 2s. iod."
This means that there has been bad management or false
economy somewhere. The stoppages from wages may have
been insufficient, or the wages themselves so barely sufficient
" for dear life," as to make an adequate provision for superan-
nuation impossible. Or, the financial administration of the
Force may have been unwise. But these, or any other ima-
ginable excuses are worthless as reasons why money expended
for the Police Establishment of the Metropolitan District
should be excluded from its " total cost ;" and the objection
that, although part of the total cost, these amounts ought to
THEIR ILLUSORY NATURE. 79
be excluded from consideration in ascertaining the cost per
man, is really childish. The "cost per man " is only used as a
common denomination whereby we may be enabled to solve
the problem of relative economy or relative extravagance.
Having shewn that the deductions claimed by Sir Richard,
amounting to ^72,558 2s. id., are illusory, we now point out
that he has omitted from his "total cost," ;£ 1,1 71 13s. nd.,
the " amount of retired allowances to persons formerly
in his and the Receivers' department."* If it should be
said that this item is paid directly by the Treasury, the
answer is that it is the cost and not the sources of payment
which we are discussing. It cannot be contended that this
sum forms no part of the Metropolitan Police expendi-
ture ; for, retiring allowances are granted in consideration of
services performed ; and, if not given, the salaries of the
Establishment would be higher in proportion.
The above sum of ^1,171 13s. nd. being added to the
total cost — ,£472,947 4s. 4d. f — gives the true total of
£474,118 1 8s. 3d.
And now, a few words as to the numerical strength of
the Metropolitan Police Force. The "Judicial Statistics"
give it for the last eight years, thus : —
1858
1859
i860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
6,295
6,296
6,289
6,158
6,566
6,590
6,682
6,784
Sir Richard, however, gives the strength in 1861 at 6,116,
which figure we accept, having no means of testing the same.
* Sir Richard Mayne's Return to House of Commons, 1861, p. 7.
t Sir Richard Mayne's Letter, Table B, ,£400,389 2s. 3d. +
£72,558 2S. id., as above, = £472,947 4s. 4d.
80 COST OF CITY POLICE.
The City strength in Police, according to " Judicial Statis-
tics," was, in the year 1861, 628 men; but in the para-
graph under review, they are stated as 608.
Having corrected the figures used as a basis of calculation,
we proceed.
The money actually disbursed (^474,118 18s. 3d.) divided
by the alleged strength of the Establishment (6,116) gives us
an expenditure for the Metropolitan Police in 1861 at the rate
of ^77 1 os. 5d. per member of that Force. Sir Richard evi-
dently thinks this too much (not that it is so in fact, but that
it looks so), and commences that manipulation of figures
which brings the actual cost of ^77 10s. 5& down to his
hypothetical cost of ^65 9s. 3d. per man.
As to the cost of the City Police Force, the total amount
in 1 86 1, was not, as stated by Sir Richard Mayne, ^48,172,
but ^49,081 1 6s. 3d.* From which should be deducted
^78 4s. 3d. for pensions to watchmen of the old Force. This
gives the total cost of the City Police for 1861 of ^49,003 12s.
It is true that, of this sum, £600 was expended upon estab-
lishing Telegraphic communication between the different
police stations ; but it was no less, on that account, an item
in the "total cost" of that year's police expenditure, and
should not be claimed as a deduction. The strength of the
Force was 628, and dividing the corrected total cost by that
number, will give as the cost per man of the City Police,
^78 os. 7d., or at the rate of 10s. 2d., per man, over the total
cost per man of the Metropolitan Police.
* City's printed Accounts, 1861, p. 51.
COS'l .1) OF POPULATION I
It is singular, however, that if the jQboo for tele:
wires were deducted from the total cost, the advantage would
then be with the City, in contrast with the Metropolis, as to
the total cost per man, to the extent of 8s. nd. per man for
the year. The authorities in the City may however resign
themselves complacently to the charge of extravagance to
the extent of 10s. 2d. per constable, per annum, it being
matter of notoriety that the City Police are, and always
have been, better paid (for they are picked men) than those
of the Metropolitan Force.
Paragraph II. — "Additional Cost to City."
"The additional cost thus caused to the City on the whole number of
"the City Police amounts to £8,370 a-year more than it would be if the
"pay, expenses and management were according to the Metropolitan
"scale. The additional cost to the Metropolitan District on the whole
"number of the Metropolitan Police, if the pay, expenses and manage -
" ment were according to the City scale, would be £84, 196 a-year more
' ' than it now is, which sum may therefore be considered as so much saved
" by the more economical administration of the Metropolitan Establish-
" ment."
The additional cost produced by miscalculation, working
upon an unsound basis, is a mere myth — to which further
allusion is needless. " Economical administration " may
better be argued upon other grounds, as we shall shew
presently.
Paragraph III.—" The Cost per Head of the Population:'
*' The cost of the maintenance of the Police, considered as a tax per
" head of the whole population of each district, is, in the Metropolitan
" District, 2s. iod., and in the City 8s. 4d., or 194 per cent, higher in
"the City."
This is a fallacy. It is as if Sir Richard had said, " The
6
82 OFFICIAL EXAGGERATION.
cost of the City Police should be divided among the 113,387
people who sleep there, and not among the 283,000 day-
residents — still less among the 700,000 people who daily
throng its thoroughfares for business purposes or for amuse-
ment— for the opportunity of plunder or the chance of being
plundered." Does the Chief Commissioner really believe that
the sole duty of the City Police is to protect and watch over
its sleeping population? Do they discharge no duty during
the hours of the day, and does he think that any other sane
man entertains such opinions ? Is he not aware that a large
proportion of the Force is exclusively occupied in regulating
the street traffic which this "army" of 700,000 people
imposes? If not, we beg to inform him that 81 men are
wholly detailed to the duty of maintaining the flow of
traffic through the streets of the City. Does he not
imagine that the many thousands who leave their commer-
cial houses every evening to return to them every morning
— who are rated occupiers and registered electors of the City
- — are to be considered as parties to the question, now first
raised, whether, because, on a given night, the sleeping popu-
lation of the City numbered 1 13,387, that number is to be made
the test of Police cost and efficiency ? He is far too sensible a
man to contend for a single moment ; and he cannot fail to
perceive and admit that he has made his calculations respect-
ing the City of London on untenable data, and that the result
is a palpable fallacy. Without claiming the daily population
of three-quarters of a million (all of whom, nevertheless, are
to be cared for, whether protected or suspected, by the City
Police Force), we assert the 283,520 daily residents to be the
minimum population among whom the sole cost of the City
Police Establishment has to be divided ; and in the apportion-
ment to each of these of their equal share in the total cost
COST-PER-HOUSE FALLACY. 83
°f -^49»oo3 12s., that share will be 3s. i{d. instead of 8s. 4c!.
per head, as stated in the above paragraph.
Now, the population of the City and Metropolitan Police
Districts being shewn in " Judicial Statistics" to be 3,221,419,
the deduction of the City day-population of 283,520 will give
us, as that of the Metropolitan Police District 2,937,899 ;
which divided into the total cost of its Police Establishment
0£474>ii8 18s. 3d.) will give 3s. 2|d. per head of the popu-
lation— a result shewing the City to be less expensively policed
than the Metropolitan District by i|d. per head per annum.
But, appealing to the conscientiousness of Sir Richard
Mayne, we ask — whether we should greatly sin against justice
and reason if we called the population of the City of London,
for Police purposes, half-a-million (there are in the City in
the course of the day 842,373 persons), and, consequently, the
expense per head in the City will be only is. n|d. against
the 3s. 2jd. Police head-money of the population of the
Metropolitan Police district; or is. 3^d. per head, equal to 38
per cent, in favour of the City.
Paragraph IV.—" The Cost per House."
" The cost as a tax for each house, inhabited and uninhabited, is, in
" the Metropolitan District, 19s. o.^d., in the City, ^3 2s. iod., or more than
" 200 per cent, higher in the City."
To humour the Chief Commissioners, we follow his fallacy
from men to houses. We could better have done so if he had
informed us What "a house" means. May it not depend
upon where situate ? And must not the fiscal result depend
upon the relative value of houses ?
04 OFFICIAL DIVARICATION.
But, taking his calculations and their results for granted,
is it not manifest that, ^3 2s. iod. will be less burdensome to
the occupier of a City house of the average rental of ^136
than 19s. o£d. will be to the occupier of a house at Bethnal
Green, averaging a rental of ^13 per annum?* The Police
charge of jQ$ 2s. iod. on the rental of the former is but 2\ per
cent., whilst a charge of 19s. ojd. on the rental of the
latter is over 7 per cent. Admit the charge for Police to be
200 per cent, higher on a house in the City than on one in
Bethnal Green — the average rental of the former over the latter
is more than five times two hundred per cent. ! Where then is
the analogy ? Another important question arises here : — How
many houses are there in the City? He states them, in a
marginal note to his letter, at 13,218, in 186 1. In his Appen-
dix he tells us, "The City Police has to watch 14,794
houses, inhabited and uninhabited." The Registrar-General
gives us, in the Census for 1861 — inhabited houses 13,431 ;
inhabited and uninhabited, 15,488. In the marginal note be-
fore referred to, the Chief Commissioner informs us that the
houses in the Metropolitan District, in 1861, were 360,089 ;
whilst in his Appendix he states, " The Metropolitan Police
has to watch 461,845 inhabited and uninhabited houses " — a
difference of more than a hundred thousand houses !
It is alike useless and impracticable to pursue the cost-
per-house fallacy further than to remark that, as the houses of
the City of London, by their relative value, f are more than
* That these are the rentals of houses respectively in the City and in
Bethnal Green, see p. 46.
f See Table of " Relative number of Houses," in Chap. III.,
p. 47.
POLICE RATES IN THE CITY. 85
ten-fold the highest number credited to the City by Sir R.
Mayne, his allegation that the police ratio per house in the
Metropolitan District is 19s. o£d., may be the more readily
conceded, since the ratio of cost in the City — being but a tenth
of the result stated by him — would be only 6s. 3d. per house.
Paragraph V. — {No Marginal Note.)
** The cost of the Police, whether considered as a tax on the population
or houses, being, as thus shewn, so much higher in the City, it was as-
serted that the inhabitants of the City pay the higher rates for the
greater security of person and property afforded them."
The conclusion in the former portion of this paragraph is
so qualified by the words " as thus shewn," and the fallacies
of his postulates and the inaccuracy of his figures have been
made so manifest, that we have only to deal with the alleged
assertion that the City pays higher Police rates, and for
a certain purpose.
But we cannot leave the question of cost without observ-
ing, in passing, that although not a very important mistake
on the part of Sir Richard to state (in Appendix D) that
the City Police rate in 1861, was at 6d., when, in fact, it was
only 5^d. — which may be attributable to mere inadvertence,
it is more important to notice, as requiring explanation, that,
in the official volume of "Judicial Statistics" for the year 1865
(the last published), there should be no entry whatever of
the usual contribution by the Treasury to the Metropolitan
Police Force.
86 POLICE EFFICIENCY, HOW BEST TESTED.
We need not here question whether " the inhabitants of
the City pay the higher rates " — it is wholly immaterial to the
issue — but some one appears to have asserted, and we believe
him to have been fully justified in the assertion, that (if it be
so) they pay such higher rates "for the greater security of
person and property afforded them."
It will be seen by the next and subsequent paragraphs in Sir
Richard's letter, that he accepts this issue and undertakes to
answer the assertion. The matter in dispute is thus brought
within very narrow limits; and we shall submit to the test
of the official statistics of Metropolitan crime the question
of the relative efficiency of the two Forces.
But after all said, it is very fallacious to test the value of
anything merely by its pecuniary cost. Efficiency is, and must
be with every thinking man, the real test of value. A cheap
police force may be the dearest — on the principle of cheap and
worthless. We have followed Sir Richard into the money
argument reluctantly, but the rectification of figures demanded
that we should do so. It is, in truth, of little consequence to
the citizens if they obtain what they require — efficient protec-
tion to person and property — whether they pay a little more
to obtain it. Protection kthey must have, let it cost what it
may. And that cost concerns no one else. Besides, the
citizens pay cheerfully their quota of the cost of the Metro-
politan Police, but they claim in return no contribution
directly or indirectly from the Metropolitan rate-payers,
whether by rate or Treasury grant ; although, as we shall see
presently, over three criminals out of four come to the City
out of the surrounding districts. It is therefore somewhat
unreasonable, not to say impertinent, for the Commissioner of
CRIMES in THE CITY and METROPOLIS. 87
another Force to object that a few shillings per head pel
annum are disbursed by the citizens, through their rep:
tatives, for the purpose 6f obtaining what they feel tiny
require. As men of business and employers of labour, they
know by experience, that efficiency at ^80 is infinitely cheaper
than an indifferent article at any price. We have already-
alluded to the fact, unparalleled elsewhere — that there are
within the City, 2,000 houses containing property of immense
value, left every night in the sole charge of the Police ; and
we have estimated that the citizens save, in this matter alone,
some ,£150,000 annually by reason of the confidence which
they repose in the City Force. And who should be the judges
in this respect but themselves? It is, in truth, to them a
matter of absolute indifference whether the Force, be charge-
able upon the rates i^d. or even 3s. per head per annum,
more or less than elsewhere, if they obtain from the Force
that which they have a right to expect.
We proceed therefore with that portion of the letter which
deals with the really important question of the efficiency of
the two Forces.
Paragraph VI. — " Comparison of Crimes in the City and Metro-
politan Districts."
" In answer to the assertion that there is a greater security of person and
" property in the City, I have to refer to the Criminal Returns in the latest
" volume of the 'Judicial Statistics,' presented to Parliament for the year
" 1 86 1 : it is there shewn that the number of crimes committed in the
" year was— in the City, 1,029 5 m tne Metropolitan District, 11,203.
S8 STATISTICAL INACCURACIES.
" The area of the City is a little more than I square mile ; the population,
" 111,784 persons, and the number of houses inhabited and uninhabited,
"1,479-
" The area of the Metropolitan District is 571 square miles ; the
"population, 3,110,684 persons; the number of houses inhabited and
" uninhabited, 461,848."
We must make a few corrections in the figures quoted
before proceeding to point out the fallacious argument based
upon them.
The population of the City is erroneously stated at 111,784.
The number given in " Judicial Statistics," is 112,247. The
number of houses in the City must be a blunder of the printer
[1,479 must mean 14,794] ; but the census of 1861 gives them
at 15,488. The population of the Metropolitan District is, not
3,110,684, but 3,109,172 [see page 2 of "Judicial Statistics,"
1 861] ; and the houses in that District are given in this
document at (as above) 461,848 ) in Appendix III.,
at 618,445, and, in the marginal table, at 360,089 ! !
To emerge from this statistical labyrinth, let us see how
the data may be sought to be made available, and what may
be, to use Sir Richard's words, "thus shewn."
It is a grievous fallacy — nay, it is a poor quibble — to affect
to test the comparative " security of person and property in
the City " by reference to one of the two returns given in
" Judicial Statistics." " Crimes " and " offences " against
person and property are there recorded under the two heads,
" Indictable Offences " (Table V.) and " Offences determined
Summarily " (Table VI.). The Chief Commissioner pro-
poses to restrict his case to the former of these returns, and
for the one year, 1861, when he might have given us the
fairer criterion of an eight years' aggregate and average. But
he shall be met upon the ground of his own selection
CRIMINALITY TESTED BY POPULATION. 89
primarily, upon the condition that he will afterwards favour
us with his considerate attention whilst we enlarge the scope
of the inquiry and adduce evidence for its fuller elucidation.
Paragraph VII. — "Ratio of Crime to Population"
u The proportion of crimes to population (Table F annexed) is — in the
" City, 1 crime to 108 persons ; in the Metropolitan District, 1 crime to
" 277 persons. In this relation crimes in the City are upwards of 156 per
" cent, higher than in the Metropolitan District."
To ascertain the population in the City fairly chargeable
with the crime committed, is a work which it is impossible to per-
form with anything approaching precision or judicial accuracy.
The attempt to determine the proportion of crime in the City
— measuring it by population — is a course which we should
never have made had not the task been imposed upon us
in our endeavour to follow Sir Richard Mayne. To attempt an
analysis of the character of the populations of Epsom, Ascot,
or Newmarket, by imputing to the residents of those towns
all the crime committed by the imported visitors to the races,
and to adopt that ratio as the standard of criminality, would
be hardly so gross a perversion of statistics as to charge the
113,387 registered residents of the City and Liberties with
the crime committed, not only by them, but also by the
fluctuating daily population numbering — sooner or later
during the 24 hours — some 728,000 persons.
We almost feel that some apology is due to the scientific
inquirer for our attempt in this direction. He must, however,
do us the justice to bear in mind that we did not set the
example in this respect.
90 DO THE NON-RESIDENTS COMMIT CRIMES?
An arithmetical calculation of crimes based upon a hypo-
thetical population, is not likely to give an accurate result.
Sir Richard assumes a City population of sleepers ; or, in
other words, that all the crimes committed within the City
are chargeable to the sleeping population of 113,387 persons,
and that to these — and these only — is the attention of the 628
City policemen to be devoted. This is the absurd hypothesis
upon which all his calculations are based. It must carry
his argument to this ludicrous extent — that the 170,133
persons engaged commercially, day by day, at their places of
business, and the other persons who daily migrate to the
City, forming a total of 728,986 human beings, of average
honesty and morality, never commit any criminal act!
On such data he may make his sum total of crime and
criminals whatever he may desire to make it ; but the system
of arithmetic preferred and adopted by the Chief Commis-
sioner will not satisfy commercial men, or indeed any men of
ordinary common sense.
The following figures, the result of the investigation of
over 9,600 charge sheets, have been furnished under the hand
of Mr. Oke, the Chief Clerk to the Justice Room, at the
Mansion House.*
Return of the Residences of persons proceeded against, on
Indictment and Summarily, in the year ending Sept. 29,
1864, as appearing in the "Judicial Statistics," 1864,
distinguishing the number of those residing in and out
of the City of London.
* The "Judicial Statistics " for 1864 were the last published when this
investigation commenced.
NUMBER OF CRIMES BY NON I
91
Criminals
and
Offenders.
a
=3 &
Residing out of City.
i
■
1
f
00
*5
I
w
1
8*b
0.0-0
i
Persons proceeded
against on In-
dictment 717
Persons proceeded
against Sum-
marily 8,924
I63
2,l83
308
4.914
82
IO
63
6
33
45
70
103
510
554
6.741
Grand Total 9,641
5,222
1.233
73
29
us
613
Total residing in the City
2,346
7.295
From the above we learn the important fact for which
we are^ceri tending, that it is not the registered residents of
the City who should be charged with all the crimes and
offences committed. For, of 9,641 crimes and offences com-
mitted in the City, only 2,346 were committed by residents,
and the remainder, viz., 7,295, by non-residents. We thus
obtain the proportion of 1 to 4*1 (say 1 to 4), as that of
the crimes and offences committed by the residents of the
City, to those committed by the whole number.
The day residents of the City are 283,520 persons, of
whom considerably more than the average are adults. The
daily frequenters are 728,986, the great majority of whom are
adult males. These figures therefore represent, as it regards
commission of crime, very much more than their mere nume-
rical significance ; as they are exclusive of children, who are
enumerated as within the Metropolitan district. Of the
728,986 daily frequenters, it may be contended that they are
92 RATIO OF CRIMES TO HOUSES.
common to both the City and Metropolitan Districts ; and we
are therefore disposed to accept one half of that number, or
364,493, in addition to the 283,520, making 648,013 as, at
least for pmposes of crime, the equitable population of the
City of London.
The Table F, annexed to the letter of Sir Richard
Mayne, correctly quotes from "Judicial Statistics," 1861,
the number of charges for Indictable offences preferred in the
Metropolitan District at 11,203, and those in the City of
London at 1,029. Let us therefore alter Sir Richard's
results by the substitution of the amended population of the
City thus : — Dividing the City population by the number of
criminal charges at the City police courts (1,029), there will
be 1 person charged with crime in every 629 of the population
of the City of London.
The registered population of the Metropolitan Police Dis-
tricts augmented by that of the City, being 3,221,419, must
now be reduced (as even a thief cannot be in two places or
both districts at once) by the deduction of the amended popu-
lation of the City, which will give us, for Police purposes,
2>573>4°6 as the amended population of the Metropolitan
Police District; and if we divide that number by the 11,203
Metropolitan crimes, we shall have, as the result, 1 crime to
every 229 individuals.
We have " thus shewn " that crime in the City is as 1 to
629, and crime in the Metropolis as 1 to 229 of their respec-
tive populations — a somewhat different result from that obtained
by Sir Richard Mayne.
RATIO OF HOUSES TO CRIME "AT THE DERBY. 93
Paragraph VIII.—" Ratio of Crime to Houses."
" The proportion of crimes to inhabited houses is — in the City, 1 crime
"to 12 houses; in the Metropolitan District, I crime to 37 houses. In
'• this relation crimes in the City are upwards of 208 per cent, higher than
"in the Metropolitan District."
The house fallacy is but one degree less in its unreason-
ableness than the population fallacy. The houses within the
City of London are 15,488; but because many of those houses
paying a higher average rent, and higher average rates than
the houses of any other parish or district in the kingdom, are
consigned to the protection of the Police, Sir Richard holds
that, as they are not dormitories, they are therefore not houses.
And by this process of reasoning it is sought to make " the
truth known," that in the City of London there are fewer
houses than rated tenements ; that therefore crime in the City
increases in the proportion to the confidence of the owners of
property in the efficiency of the Police. To follow the tangled
thread of such an argument were a waste of time. There is
a connection between men and criminals, if we can but ascer-
tain the number of men who furnish the criminals ; but, be
the houses many or few, be they palaces or hovels, we despair
of ascertaining the number of criminals by that of the habita-
tions of the citizens of London.
Given, that there were numerous offences perpetrated at
Epsom on the Derby day of 1861. Ascertain the number of
houses inhabited and uninhabited on the Downs upon that
occasion. Required, upon these data, the number of criminals.
And when the Chief Commissioner shall have " made the truth
known " by his solution of this problem, we will endeavour to
assist him in ascertaining the relation which the crimes com-
mitted by the greater crowd of visitors who frequent the City
94 CRIMES TO HOUSES BY THEIR COMMON MEASURE.
daily, bear to the number of " houses " in the City and in the
Metropolis. It may be desirable also to ascertain what rela-
tion the policemen, who are exclusively employed in facilitat-
ing the passage of the flood of traffic, pedestrian and vehicular,
pouring through the crowded streets of the City daily, bear
to the number of houses therein. No fewer than 81 men of
the Force are employed constantly for the exclusive purpose
of facilitating* this street traffic ; what possible relation
can these constables bear to houses? There would be some
reason and logic involved in ascertaining their relation to
horses, to cabs, or to omnibuses ; but it is utterly fallacious
to measure their efficiency, or the amount of crime they
detect, by the brick-and-mortar standard suggested.
But, to humour the Commissioner, we will bring the matter
to the test of figures. We have shewn that more than three
out of four of the criminals of the City belong to the sur-
rounding districts. To obtain, then, the elements of this
calculation, we ought to reduce the crime in the City by
three-fourths before dividing it by the number of houses, or
we should increase the number of houses — if houses are to be
the test — in the like proportion. By either method, the result
would tell unfavourably to Sir Richard's police district.
To compare, however, a building of suites of offices and
counting-houses, swarming with clerks and employes, with
almost unlimited opportunities for fraud, forgery, and em-
bezzlement, with an ordinary suburban dwelling — without
making due allowance for the .difference, would be grossly
fallacious. Again, referring to our Table of Relative Values of
Houses,* we see that measuring houses by the only standard
* See Chapter III.
APPREHENSIONS TESTED BY RESULTS. 95
within our reach, a house in the City is equal to three and a
half average houses. The proportion of one-fourth of City
crimes to houses, therefore, will be, i crime to 126 instead of
1 to 12 houses, as stated by the Commissioner; and as he
says, that crime in the Metropolis is as 1 to 37 — which we do
not care to dispute — the proportion of crime in the City to
that of crime in the Metropolis will be as 1 in 126 compared
with 1 in 37, or 240 per cent, higher in the Metropolitan
District than in the City.
Paragraph IX. — "Ratio of Apprehensions, Committals and
Discharges."
"The proportion of number of persons apprehended to number of
44 crimes committed is — in the City, 10 apprehensions to 15 crimes ; in the
"Metropolitan District, 10 apprehensions to 28 crimes. But since, as it
1 ' will be observed presently, half the number of persons apprehended by
"the City Police were discharged by the Magistrates, it is necessary to
"compare the number of efficient apprehensions, which resulted in
"bringing the offenders to trial, with the amount of crime in each
" district.
"This ratio was — in the City, 10 efficient apprehensions to 32 crimes ;
"in the Metropolitan District, 10 efficient apprehensions to 37 crimes.
" The proportion of prisoners discharged by Magistrates in respect of those
" apprehended— by the City Police, 1 in 2 ; by the Metropolitan Police, 1
" in 4. If the whole value of a police were to be measured by the number
" of magisterial committals, in comparison with the number of police appre-
" hensions, it would appear plain from these figures, that the number of
" persons improperly apprehended by the City Police is double that so
" apprehended by the Metropolitan Police. The Metropolitan Police are
"concerned with much graver classes of crimes, or they get up their
14 evidence more satisfactorily ; of the suspected and accused persons
"apprehended by the City Police, less than one-half of those apprehended
44 by the Metropolitan Police, fully three-fourths are committed for trial."
We care not to discuss (though, as will be seen pre-
sently, we do not admit) the accuracy of the statement
that the proportion of apprehensions to the number of
96 ADMISSIONS OF SIR RICHARD MAYNE.
Indictable crimes is nearly twice as high in the City as in the
Metropolitan Police Districts, namely, as 28 is to 15 nearly —
an admission which tells in favour of the activity of the City
Force ; for is it not the first duty of a constable to secure and
bring before the magistrate every person who is charged with
crime or offence ? It will be a gross perversion of the English
system and a sad approximation to the Continental system of
police administration, which shall permit a class of men,
uneducated in the exercise of the judicial faculty, and ex-
posed to the temptations of venality, to decide cases upon
their own responsibility. Whenever such a system shall
become prevalent, the liberty of the subject, as on the Con-
tinent, will be in the hands of the power intrusted with the
control of the Police. That the proportion of apprehensions
in the City is not improperly high, is shewn by the figures
which follow ; for Sir Richard admits that the proportion of
efficient convictions is also in favour of the City Police, being
in the City 10 convictions to 32 criminals; in the Metropolis
10 convictions to 37 criminals. If the numbers charged be
larger in the City the residuum will, as a matter of necessity,
be larger after magisterial adjudication.
But here, again, lurks a latent fallacy. The question we
are reasoning out is, not the magisterial question, but the
relative efficiency of the two Forces of Police. There are a
score of considerations which might enter into the solution of
this problem, of apprehensions and committals, which are quite
irrelevant to the question of Police efficiency. The apprehen-
sions are the act of the Police j not so the committals. The
latter must be tested to a great extent upon other than Police
grounds. For instance, may not the City magistrates repose
less confidence in the unsupported testimony of the Police
QUESTIONABLE EVIDENCE OK EFFICI1 97
constables? May not the professional magistrates of the
Metropolis take a more strictly legal view of sin h testimony,
and send it for the adjudication of a jury ? May not some
part of the result be reasonably sought in apparently trifling
but really important differences in the administration of the
two Forces — such as the amount of discretion allowed to indi-
vidual constables as it regards the taking and disposal of
charges? It is manifest that in a district, containing six
Stations within the square mile, there can be less excuse for
intrusting such responsibility with a private of the Force, than
in a widely spread and a semi-rural area like that of a large
portion of the Metropolitan District. In such a district
responsibility must be intrusted to the constables, and will
generally be exercised in the direction which involves least
risk and trouble. May not the difference to some extent
be attributable to the regulations of the two Forces as it
regards allowances or rewards to the men who succeed in
obtaining committals or convictions ? It is more than
whispered about the Criminal Court that such a system pre-
vails and exercises some influence. If it is seriously con-
tended that an increased proportion of charges to committals,
apart from other considerations, indicates an inefficient Police,
then the converse holds good — that fewer charges point to
increased Police efficiency. Let us carry this argument to its
supreme limits, and we shall discover its fallaciousness — the
highest state of efficiency, on the argument put forward, con-
sisting in the absence of a?iy charge whatever I
The result, however, of an investigation of the whole of the
facts, as stated by the Home Secretary, is that, as regards the
Apprehensions in the last eight years — 1858-65, there were
in —
98 THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER'S STATISTICS.
The Metropolitan Police District 686, 109
The City of London 54,575
Making a total of 740,684
The proportion of Apprehensions to Crimes Charged
were, in respect of Indictable offences, —
In the Metropolitan Police District 38-8 per cent.
In the City of London 67 '4. „
And the proportion of Committals and Convictions to
Apprehensions were, for Crimes of every description, —
In the Metropolitan Police District 55*0 per cent
In the City of London 697 „
The results, for what they may be worth, are favourable
to the City Police; for the verification of the figures, the
'eader is referred to the subjoined table.
" The precise number of criminals committed for trial in the year was —
"in the City, 321 ; Metropolitan District, 2,997.
" Comparing the ratio of those figures to the respective populations of
" each district, it is found that such crimes are— in the City as 3 ; in the
" Metropolitan District, 1."
It is singular that Sir Richard should be so very rarely
in accord with the figures of "Judicial Statistics." Here
again he is at issue with the official record of the late Home
Secretary. At page 10 of the volume for 1861, it will be seen
that the City committals for Indictable offences were not 321,
but 349; and that those for the Metropolitan District were
not 2,997, but 2,990. It is, however, of more importance to
point out that, dividing the corrected numbers of com-
mittals into the corrected populations of the respective dis-
tricts, the result will be 1,857 and 860. Thus we have
THE GRAVER OFFENCES. 99
for the City, i committal to 1,857 ; and for the Metropolitan
Police District, 1 to 860 of the population ; the proportion
being — in the City, 1 ; in the Metropolitan District, 2. This
contrasts strangely with the alleged converse result of 3
to 1 against the City of London.
Paragraph X. — " Proportion of Graver Offences against Persons
and Houses."
"With reference to the graver class of offences against persons and
"houses, the annexed Table E, from 'Judicial Statistics/ page 16, in the
"year 1861, shews that the following grave offences against the person
" namely, attempts to murder, shooting at, wounding, stabbing with intent
"to do bodily harm, manslaughter, and larceny from the ^person, the num-
" bers were in the Metropolitan District 1,368, being in the ratio of 1
" to 2,273, or °'44 Per cent, of the population. In the City the numbers
"are 304, being in the ratio of I to 368, or 271 per cent, of the
" population. "
With what shew of confidence does Sir Richard here
denounce the gross inefficiency of the City Police Force ! He
is not now dealing with small transgressors, but with "the
graver classes" of offenders. And he forms his classes of
such crimes as he thinks will yield him the desired result of
ratios and percentages, and enable him to attain the Hiber-
nian climax that, in respect of these graver offences, the City
criminals figure in the impossible ratio of 271 per cent, of
the population ! Nor is this a mere oversight. The same
absurd figures were boastingly quoted against the City Force
in the newspapers of 1863 — they are to be found in the
official copy of Sir Richard Mayne's letter furnished in 1863
from the Metropolitan Police Office — they are in the " extract "
produced by Mr. Chadwick before the Commons' Committee
— and we find them in the Second Report of that Committee,
printed " by order of the House of Commons," now before us.
There has been plenty of time, as well as ample opportunity —
IOO CONTRAST IN THE CITY AND METROPOLIS.
during three and a half years, for the correction of an error
or the avowal of a mistake. Yet here we have this monstrous
libel upon the City of London stereotyped in the Parliamentary
Blue-Book — unqualified and unexplained. Nevertheless, if it
answers not itself, it is unanswerable — and there we leave it.
. But, of the "graver offences." Why should Sir Richard
have been at the trouble of classifying them? At page 20 of
the volume before him he had to his hand, the classification,
by the Home Secretary, of the crimes in the order of their
graver criminality. The Class No. 1 comprises "offences
against the person," Class No. 2, " offences against property,
with violence."
The total Indictable offences against the person, in the
whole Metropolis, in 1861 ("Judicial Statistics," page 16),
were 316. Of these, 15 were committed in the City, and 291
in the Metropolitan District.
The total Indictable offences against property with vio-
lence (same page of the same authority), were 460. Of these,
40 were committed in the City, and 420 in the Metropolitan
District.
These two classes include all the graver offences. They
present a total of 776; 65 in London proper, and 711 in
London extra.
We thus ascertain that the proportion of graver crimes to
population, is —
In the Metropolis, 1 to 3,337; in the City, 1 to 9,969; —
instead of the alleged proportion of Sir R. Mayne — 1 to
2,273, and, in the City, 1 to 368.
We have thought it only fair to take these graver
offences as classified in " Judicial Statistics," for we object
to Sir Richard making a classification of his own for this
SIR RICHARD IGNORES MURDERERS. IOI
special purpose. We demur to his thrusting the item of " lar
ceny from the person " among his " graver offences. " We can-
not but think such an incongruity committed with a purpose —
the smaller offence being, as an isolated item, somewhat
less favourable to the City. And we object most emphatically
against the Chief Commissioner's omission from his list of
" graver offences " of the gravest of all crimes — Murder. And
tli is objection is twofold : — i. That murder is, beyond a\\> the
gravest of crimes. 2. That the statistics of this crime are
all against the Metropolitan District — to which strange
circumstance some people might be inclined to attribute its
omission from Sir Richard's classification. The number of
murders in 1861 was 10 — all of which were committed in the
Metropolitan Police District. Yet, strange and unaccountable
as it may appear, neither in his letter, nor in the appendices
to that letter, is there a single reference to this one crime
— Murder ! Does $ir Richard consider murder as a crime
of a grave character ? Does he not know that, resting the
argument of efficiency on the number of this gravest of offences,
his own Force is emphatically condemned ? If not, we inform
him that in the eight years — 1858 to 1865 — in London, 79
murders were committed ; of which 3 only were in the City,
and 76 in his own Police District.
The classifying of pocket-picking, or pilfering, among
the graver crimes may be very ingenious in the Chief Police
Commissioner — and it is quite of a piece with his omission
of the crime of murder from that category ; but a few figures
will put the matter in a truthful and intelligible point of view.
The pilferers have been annually, for the past eight years, an
average of 1,351 in the Metropolitan Police District, and 295
in that of the City; 1 in 1,904 of the population in the former,
and i in 2,196 in that of the latter.
102 ANALYSIS OF ALL THE GRAVER CRIMES.
Having disposed of this make-weight of Sir Richard, we
beg to refer him to the authority of his superior officer, the
then Home Secretary, for further details.
The subjoined is a list of " the graver crimes " charged by
the Home Department to the Police of Centralization on the
one hand, and the Police of Local Self-Government on the
other — quoting, as we do, from the " Judicial Statistics " of Sir
George Grey : —
FOR THE EIGHT YEARS, 1 85 8 — 65.
i. Murder —
Metropolitan Police District 76, or 1 in 33,860
City of London 3, or 1 in 216,004
2. Attempts to Murder, Wounding, etc. —
Metropolitan Police District 864, or 1 in 2,978
City of London 30, or 1 in 21,600
3. Manslaughter
Burglary
Highway Robbery J Metropolitan
Procuring abortion I Police Dis-
Concealing birth ... > trict 4,521, or 1 in 569
Beastiality V City of Lon-
Rape and attempts^ don 215, or 1 in 3,014
Bigamy
Child stealing
The percentage of all these " graver crimes " is therefore —
Metropolitan Police District, 957; City of London, 4-3. Or
1 in 471, and 1 in 2,613 of their respective populations.
It is most unsatisfactory that in the cases of Murder and
Suicide, the returns of the Coroners of Middlesex, published in
"Judicial Statistics," throw considerable doubt upon the
Police Returns under the heading " Indictable Offences."
STATISTICS OF MURDER AND SELF-MURDER. 1 03
In the eight years — 1858-65 — the Coroners return 600
inquests resulting in verdicts of Wilful Murder in Middlesex
alone, while the Police officials return but 79 within the same
period for the whole Metropolitan District and the City of
London. Can it be for this reason that the crime of murder
is excluded from the category " of graver offences " in Sir
Richard's letter to the Home Secretary ? Was he unable
to decide precisely whether the number should be stated at 79
or considerably more than 600 ? Or did he find it difficult
satisfactorily to account for the apparent escape of over 521
murderers from justice in the last eight years? We must
decline any attempt to elucidate that which we are unable to
comprehend. But this at least would appear to be revealed —
that the Police guarantee for the sanctity of human life is
not what it should be.
Passing from the crime of murder to that of self-murder,
we are involved in a series of incongruities and apparent im-
probabilities which baffle our ingenuity to explain and to
reconcile. Turning to " Judicial Statistics," we find that the
following attempts to commit suicide are duly recorded by
the Police among the Indictable offences : —
SUICIDK, ATTEMPTING TO COMMIT.
Metropolitan City of
Police District. London.
1859 2 49
i860 4 34
1861 I 43
1862 328 36
1863 324 O
1864 355 4I
1865 342 27
Totals 1,356 230
i04
THE CORONERS' RETURNS.
The above table is limited to the attempts at suicide
constituting the criminal offence. But it is curious to con-
trast the actual amount of criminality as evidenced by the
verdicts of Coroners' Juries with that recorded in the Tables
of Crime.
And we think it may be as well to subjoin the following
account of suicides and attempts at suicide from two distinct
pages of the authorized record of the criminal statistics of
the Metropolis : —
County of Middlesex
and Southwark.
City of London.
Total Suicides and
Attempted Suicides in
Seven Years.*
" Judicial
1 "Judicial
" Judicial
Statistics."
Coroners'
Statistics."
Coroners*
Statistics."
Coroners'
Police
Account.
Police
Account.
Police
Account.
Account.
Account.
Account.
1859
2
204
49
19
| 5I
223
i860
4
217
1 34
25
38
242
1861
■ «
190
43
23
I "
213
1862
328
170
36
18
364
188
1863
324
200
0
14
324
214
1864
355
2l6
4i
II
396
227
1865
342
224
27
7
369
231
i»356
1,421
1
230
117
J 1,586 1,538
* In Table IV. of " Judicial Statistics " for this year (page 16) the Police
report O against the City of London. In the Coroners' report, in the
same volume, under the head "Middlesex" (page 40) we have "City of
London and Borough of Southwark, 23." And as we have ascertained
from the Coroner for London and Southwark that he returned 9 for South-
wark, it is tolerably clear that, instead of O on this table, the return ought
to have been 14. |But it is wearisome work to track the countless
inconsistencies of this description to their sources.
STRANGE RETURNS IN "JUDICIAL S." 105
It will be seen by referring to the above table, that in the
last seven years, the Coroners for Middlesex and Southward
have recorded 1,538 verdicts of self-murder. Of these 1,421
were chargeable to the Metropolitan Police District, and 117
to the City of London, i.e., 92 4 per cent, to the former,
and 7*6 per cent, to the latter.
Taking the Coroners' reports for the first three of these
years (1859 — 61) we have —
Suicides in parts of the Metropolitan Police District 611
„ „ the City of London „ 67
But if we contrast these figures with the Police returns
in " Judicial Statistics," it will be observed that the
Metropolitan District is credited with but 7 instead 0/611;
whilst the City is charged with 126 instead of 67 of these
cases of self-murder. How are these, proportions to be
explained ?
The subsequent four years give as the Coroners' totals —
Suicides in the Metropolitan Police District 810
„ „ City of London „ 50
Whilst the Police returns give to the District of the Metro-
polis 1,349, and assign 104 to the City. How is this to be
explained ?
We have thus the Coroners of Middlesex in direct an-
tagonism with the authorities of the Police, as regards the
proportions of these crimes ; and we have, apparently, " Judi-
cial Statistics " contradicting itself.
It will be further noticed that the Police average of suicides
in the Metropolitan District for the three years, 1859 — 61, was
2 J per annum, and that for the four years, 1862 — 65, it was
106 EXTRANEOUS INFLUENCES ON SUICIDES.
337 per annum ! Now, is it likely that there should have been
but one suicide in the Metropolitan District in 1861, and three
hundred and fifty-five in 1864? Yet the totals of the seven
years are nearly alike, which proves that cooking has not
been resorted to j or surely on the principle, " in for a penny
in for a pound," the result would have been made to demon-
strate, statistically, its own accuracy.*
Some very curious inquiries might be beneficially pro-
secuted by amateur statisticians upon the singular discrepan-
cies, as they appear to be, presented by this tabular record of
despondency and desperation in the County of Middlesex.
Taking the years 1861 and 1862, it may be asked — by what
moral, meteorological or psychological influences so great
mental depression and physical prostration were produced as
to increase these attempts in the latter year, thirty-two
thousand eight hundred per cent, above those of the former year ?
Again, to what statistical eccentricity are we to attribute the
placing in juxta-position for 1861 of 1 unsuccessful and 190
* In these statistics the Suicides given by the Middlesex Coroners do
not include those of the entire Metropolitan Police District, nine of the
Districts of the Board of Works being omitted — viz., Southwark, Ber-
mondsey, Newington, Lambeth, Wandsworth, Camberwell and Rother-
hithe, in Surrey ; and Greenwich and Lewisham, in Kent — which not
being in the County of Middlesex, are not included in the returns of
the Coroners of that County. Nor are the inquests held in those districts
reported separately in "Judicial Statistics," under Surrey or Kent. Hence
we are unable to state the precise amount of Suicides to be added to those
of Middlesex, in order to arrive at the totals of the Metropolitan Police
District. It is somewhat remarkable that in the tables of Inquests, the
Borough of Southwark, which is in Surrey, is given under the head
Middlesex ; and, being linked with the City of London, its Suicides (90 in
the last seven years) are recorded against the City of London, to which
they do not belong, instead of against the Metropolitan District, to which
they do belong— Southwark being within its area. The returns for the two
districts might surely be given separately.
THE CRIMES-PER-HOUSE FALLACY, AGAIN. 107
successful attempts at suicide ? And that problem satisfactorily
solved, how, we would ask, is it to be accounted for that, in
the ensuing year, and for the three following years, the
criminal failures exceeded the criminal successes by more than
a hundred per annum ? We refer these considerations to the
intelligent investigation of the Editor of the Lancet.
If the cipher in the column devoted to the City and South-
wark has been correctly posted against the year, 1863, the
white kid gloves are clearly due to some " putter down "
of suicide in the City of London ; or on the other hand, may
we not suggest, as the more probable hypothesis, that the
return was dropped between the City and the Home Office,
and that no further inquiries have been instituted.
It may be added that the Coroners of Middlesex return
in 1 86 1 the annual number of 49 deaths from "excessive
drinking," whilst those of the City including Southwark,
record but 2 cases annually of a like description.
Paragraph XL — "(Graver Offences Continued) Ratio to Houses ."
' ' Of offences in houses, namely, burglary, housebreaking, breaking into
' ' shops, warehouses, larceny to the value of ^5 in dwelling-houses, and
' ' * other felonies and misdemeanours' (so specified in the ' Judicial Statis-
" tics'), the numbers were — in the Metropolitan District, 1,168; in the
"City, 104, being in the following ratio : — Metropolitan District, of 1 to
" 360, or 277 per cent, of the inhabited houses ; City, of I to 127, or 782
"per cent, of the inhabited houses."
It is singular that the offences selected to compare with
the number of nouses, should omit " Sacrilege " and " at-
tempts to break into houses, shops," etc., whilst it includes the
indefinite offence of "other felonies and misdemeanours;"
has this very singular selection been adopted because the
latter class told against the City, whilst the former are 20 to 1
against the Metropolitan Police District ?
108, ALLEGED CRIMINALITY OF CITY.
We have no difficulty in meeting and disposing of any
fact, or assumed fact, contained in this letter, or in any of
its paragraphs — certainly not with the house-and-crime-fallacy,
but we confess to an incapacity as regards Sir Richard's
ratios and percentages. What is intended by 277 and 782
per cent, of the inhabited houses, passes our comprehension.
The number of houses in the Metropolis has, as we have
shewn, been very variously stated; but, taking them at the
lowest figure quoted, viz., 360,089 + 14,483 (for the City)
=374,572, and increasing them in the specified ratios of 277
and 782 per cent, (aggregated), we arrive at 3,966,717
houses. So that, if graver crimes are in this relation to
houses, we have 3,966,717 crimes to 12,232 criminals, the
total number indicted.*
Paragraph XII. — " Crimes of Every Description higher in the
City than in the Metropolitan District"
"It is thus shewn that the crimes of a serious character, both those
" against persons and houses, as well as crimes of every description, are
"relatively to population and houses much higher, in the City than in the
" Metropolitan District. The inference is, that the Metropolitan Police are
" more efficient than the City Police for the prevention of crime. The
" percentage of the persons apprehended who are committed for trial is
"much greater in the Metropolitan District than in the City. These
" results shew that a greater number of persons are improperly apprehended
1 ' in the City. The Metropolitan Police act with better discretion, and
' ' more regard to the evidence against the persons apprehended. For the
" accuracy of the calculations and results which I have stated, and for
" other calculations and interesting deductions on these matters, I beg to
" refer to a paper attached, by Mr. Frederick Purdy, Secretary to the
" Statistical Society, and the Statistical Clerk to the Poor-Law Board, to
*' whom I referred the returns for examination and correction." f
* "Judicial Statistics," 1861, p. 10.
t We think it is due to Mr. F. Purdy, and to the statistical clerk of the
Poor-Law Board, to state that we do not find their names attached to any
copy of the letter under review, vouching for the accuracy of the figures
therein contained.
RELATIVE NUMBER OF PUBLIC nor 109
" It is thus shewn " is easily written. But nothing can
be said to be shewn at all, if nothing be seen. Sir Richard
has been dealing only with the Indictable offences for a
particular year. But the offences subject to the summary
jurisdiction of the magistracy are eight times as numerous as
those to which it has pleased the Chief Commissioner to
direct attention ; and whilst it has been shewn that but little
is known in Scotland Yard of the statistics of those 12,232
cases, it would seem that nothing whatever is known there of
the 85,086 offenders who in that same year, 1861, were made
amenable to the criminal law in this City and Metropolis.
The diminution of the incentives to crime and the removal
of facilities for its perpetration and concealment, are among
the obvious means by which the criminal element of a popu-
lation may be reduced to its minimum. And it would seem,
from numerous comparisons already made, that this degree of
relative perfection has been well nigh attained in the City of
London. But there is one illustration of this view which has
not been hitherto mooted, and to which we think attention
should be directed.
The Census return of 186 1 informs us that —
The Publicans and Beersellers of
the Metropolitan District number 8,844, or J to 29x persons;
Whilst those of the City of London
number 616, or 1 in 1,052 persons.
Here we have a manifest inducement to inebriety and
possible criminality promoted by the magistracy and licensing
authorities, in the excessive ratio of 260 per cent, over the
ratio within the City of London.
110 THIEVES IN EMBRYO.
It will not, therefore, appear surprising that, of the pri-
soners prosecuted, there is a much larger proportion of them
in the Metropolitan Police District who are returned to the
Home Secretary as " Habitual Drunkards. " And, accordingly,
we find in "Judicial Statistics " the subjoined statement :—
1 Class of persons proceeded against on Indictment and Summarily:'
"habitual drunkards."
Metropolitan Police District (annual average
for the last eight years) 3^51
City of London (ditto) 94
Which, in the former case, is 1 habitual drunkard to 705 ;
and, in the latter, 1 to 6,894 of the population. Cause and
effect were never more clearly connected.
We further append to these observations touching the
question of the efficiency of the Police, some very cogent evi-
dences, we will not say of the greater efficiency of the City
Police, but of the occasion for yet greater efficiency in the
Police of the Metropolitan District. It is as well to state that
we still write as " of authority," for we continue to quote
from Sir George Grey's "Judicial Statistics " for the selected
year, 1861 : —
"Receivers of stolen goods, known to the police."
In the Metropolitan Police District 232
In the City of London ri
" Houses for the reception of stolen goods "—
In the Metropolitan Police District 181
In the City of London Zl
their training-ground. i i 1
" Brothels and houses of ill fame " —
In the Metropolitan Police District 1,601
In the City of London 9
"Other houses, the resort of thieves and prostitutes" —
In the Metropolitan Police District 567
In the City of London 44
" Known thieves and depredators " —
In the Metropolitan Police District 2,961
In the City of London 57
" Suspected persons at large " —
In the Metropolitan Police District 1,974
In the City of London 51
" Prostitutes " (known or suspected as Depredators, etc.) —
In the Metropolitan Police District 7,096
In the City of London 28
If we call the City one-seventh of the Metropolis (it
is about that, combining rental and population) its pro-
portion of the grand total of the above 14,823 would be
2,117; and, by so many as its actual number may fall
short of these, will be the excess of the Metropolitan
Police District in these curses of civilization, these hin-
drances to advancement, these dangers and nuisances to
our Christian commonwealth. Instead of a seventh part,
112
NEEDED SUPPRESSION OF THE INCENTIVES TO CRIME.
2,117, the actual share of the City is seen to be only 211—
only a seventieth part— the Metropolitan Police District having
sixty-nine times the proportion of its municipal neighbour
in these disreputable, and, to a great extent, preventable
elements !
With what grace can Sir Richard Mayne inform Sir
George Grey that "the Metropolitan Police are more efficient
than the City Police for the prevention of crime"— or for any
purpose within the legitimate scope of their duty? With
what face can Mr. Edwin Chadwick pledge himself to Mr.
Ayrton's Committee that he knew the statistics of the Chief
Commissioner were to be depended upon ?
We take leave to suggest to Sir Richard Mayne that as he
knows of fourteen thousand causes or incentives to crime in his
district, that his Force will not have merited his compliment nor
justified his self-laudation until "Judicial Statistics" shall
bear witness to the reduction of this monstrous army of
inducements and aids to crime, by at least one-half. He could
not better prevent crime than by the suppression of the
notorious encouragers and haunts of his criminals j and, how-
ever honourable and admirable his motive may have been for
writing the letter under review, we think that, if he had devoted
the time occupied in its preparation to the uprooting of a few
of the nests of vice which demoralise and disgrace his district,
the community would have been the gainers.
It is much to be regretted, upon many grounds, that Sir
Richard Mayne had not entered upon a crusade to put down
the public enemy, or to co-operate with the Magistracy
for the prevention of many of these incentives to crime
PERCENTAGE OF CRIME IN CITY AND METROPOLIS. 113
before undertaking the office of censor upon others, who
have shewn themselves to be more practical and more success-
ful than himself.
This will be made apparent upon an examination of the
subjoined table of Indictable Offences.
We desire to reiterate that the annexed table is based
upon the figures of the Home Secretary ; that it enumerates
all the Indictable offences of the last eight years, and not
merely of a selected year ; that the classification is that of Sir
George Grey and not that of Sir Richard Mayne ; and that
the comparative efficiency of the City Police, as tried by
this test, is demonstrated beyond all question.
The results of the table are instructive in every respect,
but the following may be pointed out as particularly striking :
In class i (the gravest crimes of the Murder
class) there were chargeable, to the Metro-
politan Police District 95-6 per cent.
To the City of London only 4-4 per cent.
100
In class 2 (the class of Burglary, Highway
Robbery, etc.) there were chargeable, to the
Metropolitan Police District 92*0 per cent.
To the City of London 8*o per cent.
100
%
In classes 3 to 6 (comprising the less aggravated
offences) there were chargeable, to the
Metropolitan Police District 91*6 per cent.
To the City of London 8*4 per cent
100
8
114 ENLARGEMENT OF SCOPE OF INQUIRY.
It will be observed, not only that the percentage of crime
in the City is extremely small, but that, small as it is, it be-
comes still less as the gravity of crime increases.
The reverse is the case as it regards the Metropolitan
Police District. To take the case of Class i — the gravest
offences against the person — the proportion of those crimes
relatively to the population, should have been in eight years
2,973, the crimes actually committed were 3,558, being an
excess of 585 crimes of this class chargeable to the Metropo-
litan Police District — an excess of 20 per cent.
If the reader will refer a few pages back, he will find that
in our remarks upon the sixth paragraph of Sir Richard
Mayne's letter, we complained that he had confined his in-
quiries to a selected year, and to a selected and small portion
of the criminal statistics of that year; and we promised that
after refuting his conclusions from such inadequate (not to
say unfair) data, we should enlarge the scope of our inquiry,
so as to include all the offences for the extended period of the
last eight years.
We proceed to the fulfilment of our pledge.
Having hitherto, in a spirit of accommodation, restricted
our investigation to the 100,875 cases of the criminal popula-
tion, we propose shortly to direct attention to the much
larger number' of 740,684 offenders to whom the Chief Com-
missioner has not condescended to apply his powers of in-
vestigation. We feel bound to supplement his partial return
by the inquiry — why has the great bulk of our criminal
population been ignored ? and by the subjoined tabular
reply : —
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Il6 RELATIVE PERCENTAGE OF CONVICTIONS.
It will be seen that by adding the numbers of the Indict-
able offences (100,875) to tne offences Summarily determined
by the Magistracy (740,684), we have the aggregate of our
criminal population for the last eight years — viz., 841,559.
This will give us an annual average of 105,195, whilst Sir
Richard Mayne limits the scope of his inquiry and report to
the 12,232 Indictable offenders in the year 1861. It will be
remembered that the Chief Commissioner had excluded all
the cases of murder, and included all the cases of larceny
from the person ; and we now direct attention to the fact that
he has omitted from all his calculations 88 per cent, of
the criminals, duly registered in the, Police returns published
by the Home Secretary. There must have been some suffi-
cient reason why a public functionary should thus evade
the real object of inquiry.
The table likewise demonstrates that a much larger pro-
portion of the criminals apprehended by the City Police are
ultimately convicted than those apprehended by the Metro-
politan Forqe. The proportion of efficient apprehensions
being : —
In the City 737 per cent.
In the Metropolitan Police District 54*0 „
The table further informs us that the proportion of
inefficient apprehensions — i.e., those not convicted — is also
largely in favour of the City Force. The proportions of
inefficient apprehensions being : —
In the City 26*2 per cent.
In the Metropolitan Police District 45*9 „
That the City Police has not deteriorated during the last
fifteen years — that it is, as a Force, even more efficiently ad-
IMPROVEMENT UNDER COLONEL FRASER. 117
ministered by Colonel Fraser, its present experienced Chief
will be apparent from the subjoined figures, furnished by Mr.
D. W. Harvey, the late Chief Commissioner, to the Royal
Commission of 1854. Indeed, it will be seen that the City of
London has materially improved its relative position, as it
regards efficiency, within that period : —
"The number of persons taken before the Magistrates by the City
" Police, for the ten years ending 1852, was 51,677 ; in the Metropolitan
" Police, 660,764. We find that there were Discharged in the City
" 20,346, or above 39 per cent, of those apprehended. As regards the
" Metropolitan District, they were Discharged at the rate of 50 per cent.,
"the number being 333,960. So, again, with respect to those sum-
"marily Convicted; the proportion is 52 per cent, in the City; in the
"Metropolitan Districts it is 42."
No person who shall have carefully studied the above facts
will hereafter attach any importance to Sir Richard's insinua-
tion that " the number of persons improperly apprehended by
the City Police, is double that so apprehended by the Metro-
politan Police ; " or, his assertion that " they [the Metropolitan
Police] get up their evidence more satisfactorily ; " or that
" less than one-half of those apprehended by the City Police
are committed for trial ; " or, that " half the number of persons
apprehended by the City Police were discharged by the
Magistrates ; " or, that " the Metropolitan Police are more
efficient than the City Police for the prevention of crimes."
To statistics Sir Richard appealed ; to statistics he has
been remanded ; by statistics he stands condemned.
Il8 SUPPRESSED PARAGRAPH.
" Corrected" "Judicial Statistics."
" I had occasion lately to call your attention to an error in the last
" volume of the ' Judicial Statistics,' presented to Parliament for the year
" 1 86 1, as to the average annual cost per man of the Metropolitan and
' ' City Police Force, which was stated to be £78 3s. 2d. in the Metropolitan
" and £jg 4s. yd. in the City Police, making the difference only £1 is. 5d.
" These results were obtained by dividing the total expenditure of the respec-
" tive establishments by the number of the Police of each Force, but in the
"accounts of the expenditure of the Metropolitan Police Establishment
• ' there are several sums of a very large amount which do not relate to the
" cost of the police constable, and there are none similar in the City Police
' ' accounts, on which the calculation was made with regard to the City
" Force ; the error will be corrected in the forthcoming volume of ' Judicial
"Statistics.'"
The above extract, suppressed by Mr. Chadwick in the
letter of Sir Richard Mayne submitted to the Select Com-
mitte of the House of Commons, introduces us to a more
serious branch of inquiry than any which have engaged our
attention hitherto. We have attributed the inaccuracies, incon-
sistencies and fallacies pointed out, to want of consideration,
defective information, or inexperience in the use of statistics —
which, like edged tools, are apt to cut the fingers of those who
unskilfully meddle with them. The above paragraph, however,
appears to suggest an intention to invent statistics for
an occasion — which, connected with other circumstances,
would seem to indicate that Sir Richard entertained
a foregone conclusion in favour of his own economical
management, and desired to support it, by doctoring the
" Judicial Statistics " of the Secretary of State for the Home
Department.
We are not, as a nation, so well practised, as some of our
neighbours, in the use and complication of Statistics — as all
connected with the science are aware. Our statistical tables,
PERVERTED STATISTICS. IIO
however, if few and far from elaborate, have usually been
considered reliable; and it is with regret that we confess to
having our faith rudely shaken by the investigation which
Mr. Chadwick has imposed upon us.
That we should find the tables free from error, we were
not so inexperienced as to expect ; that any could enter upon
such thorny paths without an occasional stumble, we were
not so unreasonable as to assume.
" The best may slip, and the most cautious fall ;
He's more than mortal that ne'er err'd at all."
But we did expect, and we had a right to assume, that
official tables, prepared at great cost of public money, should,
if not free from inaccuracy, be at least placed beyond the reach
of perversion, for the promulgation of a fallacy, or the grati-
fication of a whim. Statistics which are unreliable, are blind
guides and false lights indeed.
The " error," it will be seen, concerns the cost per man of
the Metropolitan Police Force, for the year 1861. It was
stated in the "Judicial Statistics" for 1861 to be ^78 3s. 2d.
This sum Sir Richard thought too high, and hence his
determination to have the cost reduced in amount by
correction in the volume for 1862.
We have shewn, already, how Sir Richard reduces his
cost per man for 1861 from ^77 10s. 5d., its real amount, to
^65 9s. 3d., its hypothetical amount.* We need not therefore
retrace our steps in relation to that argument or that year.
* Vide pp. 75—80.
120 INTERPOLATION IN "JUDICIAL STATISTICS."
It is with the volume of " Judicial Statistics " for the year
1862 that we are now concerned, and with the simple
question of the correction of an erroneous entry in the
volume of the preceding year. Turning to the tables for
1862 in search of the predicted emendation, we find the
object of our search — not amongst the Police returns — but
introduced between the Coroners' Inquests and the Tables of
Crimes, under the unassuming and unsuggestive heading of
" Statements furnished by the Commissioner of Police of the
Metropolis and the Receiver." We are unable to refer
to the page, for we observe that the " statements "
were interpolated, as it would seem, after the Report had
been presented to Her Majesty, and, after printing — as
they are inserted irrespectively of the numbering of the
pages, and no reference to them is found in any of the
Tables of Contents. It is never too late to do a right thing
— so thought Sir Richard ; and, though late in its insertion
— almost too late to clothe it with the stamp of authority —
yet we welcome the paper as a clue to the elucidation
of a correction in an interesting statistical document
It would appear that Sir Richard, by the document inter-
polated as above, suggested to the Home Secretary the
deduction of items, amounting in all to ,£72,558, from the
total cost of the Metropolitan Police for the year in question
and thus arrived at an estimate which he was pleased to
regard as the actual total cost of his Force. These figures
agree with those in Table A of his letter to Sir George
Grey.
There is, however, an inconsistency, as a matter of account
A FOG OF FIGURES. 12 1
in this transaction which strikes us as singular, but which is,
perhaps, susceptible of explanation — that the total cost of the
Police, as given in "Judicial Statistics," is that for the year
ending the 29th of September, 1861, whilst the items abated
are those given in the accounts of the Police as for the year
ending the 31st of December, 1861. We do not possess,
therefore, the figures of any complete year, and inasmuch as
the number of men composing the Force at Michaelmas
differed from those at the close of the year, we are precluded,
for both reasons, from following the correction so as to test
its accuracy. The total cost per man for 1862 is equally
inscrutable ; the document interpolated in the volume for that
year gives it at £62 7s. 3d., and figures are exhibited to
justify that estimate ; but they are not borne out by the facts
stated in the tables of "Judicial Statistics," which give
^74 ns. 3d. as the total cost per man.
An impenetrable mist appears to pervade the whole subject.
It would seem that, as the Goddess Venus once manifested
her maternal solicitude for her favourite son ^neas, by
covering him with a cloud, and conveying him beyond
the reach of harm, so Sir George Grey condescended, in
1863, to involve Sir Richard Mayne, and the circumstances
of the cost of his Metropolitan Force, in a fog of figures —
thus screening him from the consequences of his imprudence
in meddling with statistics, and protecting, from the eyes
of the uninitiated, the secret of the " cost per man " to this
day.
This is, however, a serious matter; though we may have
appeared to treat it jocularly. It must be evident that
statistics, to be of any value whatever, should be above the
12 2 STATISTICS BY ESTIMATE.
reach of suspicion. They are the product of a compilation of
hard, unyielding facts ; the science is allied by the closest ties
to those termed " exact," and there is no place or scope
within its province for the exercise of taste or fancy. The
introduction of an estimate into the region of fact and
exactitude involved in "Judicial Statistics," removes that
work, since 1862, from the position it has been supposed
to occupy, as a stern, impassive, judicial monitor, pointing
with unswerving finger to the spots in our social condition.
It has, by this one act of compliance with the whim of Sir
Richard Mayne, been lowered from its proper position, to
rank with works of fancy — if not of fiction. It should hence-
forth be removed from the scientific shelf in our libraries —
from the companionship of Mill's " Logic," and Colenso's
"Algebra" — to take its stand beside the " Pleasures of Hope,"
or Akenside " On the Imagination."
We should do Mr. Leslie the justice of saying that in his
introduction to the " Statistics " he has fairly designated
the corrected figure as an estimate. The Commissioner
and the Receiver of the Metropolitan Police, he says, "have
furnished statements shewing items of general expenditure,
which they consider should be excluded in estimating the cost
per man." This is honest on the part of the compiler of the
tables. But what becomes of the value of the comparative
costs of the respective Police Forces and their Establish-
ments ?
If a London Commissioner is to deduct cost of " horses,"
why not a County Chief Constable the like cost of mounting
and conveyance ? If, in the judgment of Sir Richard and the
Receiver of the Metropolitan Police, " medicines," " straw
and sawdust for stations," " female searchers," and " washing
CORRECTION OF ACCOUNTS. 1 23
towels" are not police charges proper, who is to forbid a
Borough Head Constable exercising his judgment as it regards
scrubbing-brushes, soap, hay, white-lead, pipeclay, or any
other conceivable or inconceivable item of abatement. If
"purchase and erection of stations" be considered an item
not proper to Metropolitan expenditure, then rent of stations —
an item which falls with excessive severity on the City Force —
should be excluded from the City's returns. The respective
Forces, County and Borough, should, in common fairness,
receive instructions to modify their returns upon the bases
of the corrected return in 1862 ; " superannuation and retired
allowances," "costs of apprehension," of runaway prisoners,
and the other items which are excluded from the Metropolitan
return should be also deducted elsewhere. So that the actual
might everywhere give place to the estimated, and the returns
be again consistent — if not correct.
If, to gratify a whim of the Chief Commissioner, of shew-
ing that his Force is the cheapest in the kingdom, he be
allowed to withdraw ^70,000 a year of actual and admitted
expenditure of his establishment, then the City Police autho-
rities should abate ^7,000 from their total expenditure, and
the County and Borough Forces a like proportion, of say
one-seventh, of their respective total outlays. We shall then
approximate towards the relative or comparative cost, per
man, of the respective establishments.
Complaints as to the unreliable nature of the Police
returns in " Judicial Statistics " reach us from the provinces.
Observing some remarks in the public prints respecting the
"statistical" position of Manchester — which we knew to be a
well-ordered town — we applied to the authorities there, and
they obligingly supplied us with their last Report on the
124 COMPLAINTS OF "JUDICIAL STATISTICS.
Criminal Statistics of the Town and Police. We find in it
the following remarks of the Chief Constable, which we
extract from his Annual Report, very recently rendered.
They confirm every word we have said respecting the care,
caution and consideration which should be exercised in
making use of the official figures : —
" I feel it my duty to advert in this Report to the state of Manchester
"as regards crime in comparison with other large towns, as it would
"appear from the returns furnished to Government by the Police, which
"are published annually in the 'Judicial Statistics,' that the pro-
" portion of crime to population is much greater in this City than in the
"Metropolitan Police District, the City of London, and most other large
" Boroughs.
" The Recorder of Birmingham, in charging the Grand Jury, at the
" Sessions in that Borough, last October, observed, in reference to these
" Returns, that he could not help thinking that the word ' Crime in
" 'Sheffield, Leeds and Birmingham was taken to have a very different
*■* ' meaning from what it had in the minds of those who made the returns for
" ' Liverpool and Manchester.* This view of the case is, I believe, correct ;
"and I shall endeavour to explain how it is possible that different opinions
"respecting crime can be, and probably are, entertained. The table
" from which the foregoing figures are extracted is known as the Table of
"Indictable Offences. It is prepared annually for each Police District,
" in conformity with, and under instructions received from the Home Secre-
' ' tary, to whom the returns are forwarded in October every year. In pre-
' ' paring this return the Police are instructed ' to enter only such cases as,
1 * ' in their judgment, from the circumstances attending them, would, if
" 'discovered, be sent for trial.'
"It will be seen that a discretionary judgment is given to tb,e Police
" which it is scarcely possible for two individuals to exercise alike. They
"are called upon to form an opinion of the view a Magistrate would take
"of a case if there were a prisoner to deal with, when they have no
' ' prisoner, and frequently but imperfect details of the circumstances of the
" robbery to assist them in forming a judgment"
CRIME IN BRISTOL AND BATH. ( 1 25
It is undesirable to carry our investigations, as it regards
(rime, beyond the limits of the Metropolis. Were we to do
so we should require a more extensive acquaintance, than we
possess, of particular local circumstances. We may, however,
point out here, how evidently unreliable are the " Judicial Sta-
tistics" as at present gathered, by adducing one illustration,
out of very many, which present themselves : —
The adjacent cities of Bristol and Bath are well known to
be inhabited by populations of widely differing character — the
former a sea-port and trading town, largely frequented by
foreign sailors, with all the disadvantages attending such con-
ditions ; the latter, the selected place of residence for retired
competence, gentility and respectability. Yet here are the
results of comparison, as it regards Indictable crimes, for the
year 1865.
By " Judicial Statistics," Bristol, with a population of
154,093, is credited with 261 Indictable Crimes ; whilst Bath,
with a population of only 52,528, is credited with 285 such
crimes !
Bristol is, therefore, charged with a proportion of 1 crime
to 590 persons. Bath is, in like manner, credited with 1
crime to every 184 persons —
Being at the rate of, for Bristol 24 per cent.
„ „ for Bath 76 „
So that Bath is more criminal than Bristol in the proportion
of more than 3 to 1 ! We cast no imputations; we seek for no
causes. We simply state the statistical results as they appear
by the official Criminal record. It is for the Honourable
126 RECAPITULATION, CRIME AND POLICE.
Members for Bath City to ascertain what influences are at
work to demoralize, or, it may be, to defame, the fair City
which they so worthily represent.
Let us now gather up some of the leading results of, our
investigation, as it regards Crime and the Police in the City
and in the Metropolis.
We do not find, distributing the amount of crime com-
mitted in the City amongst its residents and daily frequenters,
that the moral condition of those inhabitants is such as the
official tables would appear to represent; much less are the
appalling statements of Sir Richard Mayne justified or con-
firmed in the remotest degree. The reverse is the case — for-
cibly illustrating the adage respecting "glass houses."
It appears —
i. That the cost per man of the Police is not " £13 5 s. 46.., or
21 per cent, higher in the City Police" than in the
Metropolitan Force. It is found to be but 10s. 2d.
per man, higher, for which trifling average additional
cost, a better class of men and of a higher standard
are obtained.
2. That the additional cost of the City Police per head of the
population, is not 8s. 4d., but i^d. less per head of the
resident population than the Metropolitan Police.
3. That the cost per man of the Metropolitan Police is seen
to be higher than that of the City Police by is. 3?d.
RECAPITULATION, CRIME AND POLICE. I 27
per head, or 38 per cent., if the fluctuating popula-
tion of the City is taken into account.
4. That the additional annual cost to the City, of ,£8,370, is
purely imaginary.
5. That the cost of Police, as a tax per house ; stated to be
200 per cent, higher in the City than in the Metropo-
litan Police District, is shewn to be as 6s. 3d. is to
19s. o^d., or more than 200 per cent, higher in the
Metropolis than in the City.
6. That more than three crimes out of four, charged in the
City, are committed by non-residents — mostly persons
living in the Metropolitan Police District.
7. That so far from crimes being 156 per cent, higher in the
City than in the Metropolis, they are found, on the
contrary, to be as 229 is to 629, or 175 per cent,
higher in the Metropolitan District than in the
City of London.
8. That, as it regards the ratio of crime to houses ; instead
of crime, so measured, being 208 per cent, higher in
the City, as asserted, the reverse, and more than that,
is the case — crime being 240 per cent, higher in the
Metropolis than in the City of London.
9. That, as it regards the number of criminals committed, in
relation to population, the proportion is not as 3 to 1
in favour of the Metropolis, but, on the contrary, as
2 to 1 in favour of the City.
10. That as it regards graver offences (omitting murders) to
12 8 RECAPITULATION, CRIME AND POLICE.
population, the ratio is again unfavourable to the
Metropolitan Police, for, instead of the City population
being habitually addicted to crimes of violence, as
asserted, to the extent of 271 per cent, of the popula-
tion, we find that the ratio is only 1 grave crime com-
mitted to 9,969 persons, or at the insignificant ratio of
•01, or one hundreth part of ' otie, per cent.
11. That as it regards the crime of Murder (strangely omitted
in the comparisons which have been made), we find
that none were charged as committed within the City
in the year of comparison selected by Sir Richard
Mayne ; but 10 were charged as committed in the
Metropolitan Police District ; whilst there were, in
the eight years — 1858 to 1865 — 79 murders stated by
the Police to have been committed in London, only 3
of which were chargeable to the City.
1 2. That the verdicts of Wilful Murder, by Coroners' Juries,
greatly exceed in number the cases of Murder reported
by the Police.
1 3. That as it regards all the graver crimes in the eight years
1858 to 1865 — the proportion chargeable to the Metro-
politan Police District was 95*6 per cent. ; whilst that
chargeable to the City was only 4-4 per cent.
1 4. That the Coroners for Middlesex and Southwark (parts of
the Metropolitan Police District) record 1,421 verdicts
of self-murder in the period 1859 to 1865; whilst the
Coroner for the City records 117 cases only within that
jurisdiction.
RECAPITULATIOxV, CRIME AND POLK I . 129
15. That the ratio of Publicans and Becrscllcrs to the popu-
lation is, in the Metropolitan Police District, 260 per
cent, over the ratio within the City of London.
16. That " Habitual Drunkards" proceeded against for crimes,
within the last eight years, were 3,651 in the Metro-
politan Police District, to 94 only in the City of
London.
17. That "Receivers of Stolen Goods" were 232 in the
Metropolitan Police District, to 11 only in the City
of London.
18. That "Houses for the reception of Stolen Goods" were
181 in the Metropolitan District, to 11 in the City of
London.
19. That "Brothels and Houses of 111 Fame " were 1,601 in
the Metropolitan Police District, to 9 in the City of
London.
20. That " Other Houses, the resort of TJiieves and Pros-
titutes " were 567 in the Metropolitan Police District,
to 44 in the City of London.
21. That "Known Thieves and Depredators" were 2,961 in
the Metropolitan Police District, to 57 only in the
City of London.
22. That " Suspected Persons at large " in 1861, were 1,974
in the Metropolitan District, to 51 only in the City of
London.
23. That "Prostitutes" — being known or suspected depre-
dators— were 7,096 in the Metropolitan Police District,
to 28 in the City of London.
130 RECAPITULATION, CRIME AND POLICE.
24. That as it regards the efficiency of the respective Police
Forces, tested by the proportions of Convictions to
apprehensions, the results obtained from the totals of
Summary Convictions for eight years give — for the
Metropolitan Police Force, 54 per cent. ; whilst for the
City Force the proportion was 737 per cent.
25. That as it regards inefficient apprehensions (i.e., appre-
hensions resulting in Discharges), the proportions
were, to the Metropolitan Police Force 45 "9 per cent,
but 26*2 only to the City Police.
26. That these proportions are even more favourable to the
City Force than those reported to the Municipal Com-
missioners in 1854 — shewing a condition of progressive
improvement in that Force.
27. That the statements of Sir Richard Mayne brought before
the Select Committee of the House of Commons by
Mr. E. Chadwick, asserting the expensive character
and inefficiency of the City Police for the preven-
tion of crime, are totally and enti?'ely unfounded.
CHAPTER VI.
the FISCAL REPRESENTATION of the city of London
AND THE OTHER DISTRICTS AT THE METROPOLITAN BOARD
i
OF WORKS.
The Metropolitan Board of Works — the result apparently of
a compromise between a desire to appear to favour Represen
tative Government, and a determination to deny its practical
operation — a keeping of the word of promise to the ear, to
break it to the hope — was the work of one of the professed
Liberal members for the Borough of Marylebone, connected
with a Whig administration. It was created, evidently upon
the assumption that the people are unable to manage their
own affairs, and consequently, unfitted to send members to the
Council charged with the expenditure of their money. No
direct representation of the rated inhabitants is recognized ;
and the great constitutional principle — embodied in the House
of Commons, and which has been lauded by the Liberal school
of politicians — that taxation apart from representation is
tyrannical, is practically ignored.
The members of the Board are not, in any sense, directly
accountable to their several constituencies — the elective action
132 DEFECTS OF METROPOLITAN BOARD.
being filtered upwards through the Parochial Vestries to the
Board of Works ; a process not only destructive of direct
accountability, but ill adapted to develop the wealth, intel-
ligence and administrative capacity of the districts. No
feebler parody of Popular Representative Government could
well have been devised.
Another defect in the constitution of the Board of Works,
and a departure from established usage, consists in the limited
number of its constituent members. The amount of work
devolved upon the Board by the growing concerns of a popu
lation of over 3,000,000, imperatively demands an effective
subdivision of labour amongst its members, and the delega-
tion of a large share of the work to Committees. Such Com-
mittees must, of necessity, be very small — the Board number-
ing only 45 members. In this arrangement the great and
obvious security arising from an adequate number of
administrators, is not provided for, and the consequent
danger of lax administration is proportionately in-
creased.
When it is observed how largely the powers of the Board
have grown beyond their first modest beginnings — when it is
borne in mind that eight and a half millions have been already
disbursed * — when it is noticed that the expenditure of the
Board (irrespective of the great public works of the Main
Drainage, the Embankment and New Streets) is increasing
in a very rapid ratio, we think we may assume that no
Committee of the House of Commons, so small as those con-
stituting the Committees of the Boards of Works, would ever
* The figures are those of 1861 and 1866, and remain unaltered, for
reason stated in Preface to the Third Edition. The existing figures would
strengthen the argument.
INCREASING EXPENDITURE OF BOARD.
133
be intrusted with such control over the public money.* We
make no charge of corruption or wasteful expenditure. Upon
these points we are in no position to express an opinion. We
allude to defects of system, such as must culminate, sooner
or later, in defective administration ; and it is significant and
ominous that, in the eleventh year of the Board's existence, the
Chairman is put forward to state in evidence, that " the limits of
direct taxation have been already reached," and that unusual
and exceptional modes of local taxation must be resorted to.
Another obvious defect in the constitution of the Metro-
politan Board of Works is the deficiency in the representation
of local interests. Such representation, to be efficient, requires
subdivision, in order that the divers interests of the several
localities, and of all classes, may be brought under the personal
* Report on Local Government and Taxation, 1866 (p. 91).
Improvements. Amount already Expended.
Main Drainage ; Thames Embankment, north and south,
Street Improvements, etc Total £5,795,314 r5s. 4-d.
TAXATION
by the Board for General Purposes and Main Drainage.
Tear.
General Purposes.
Main Drainage.
Totals.
1856
1857
1858
1859
i860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
£ S. d.
98,457 8 10
87.939 I2 4
107,087 2 2
65,420 4 7
119,920 6 9
125,618 1 0
115,388 4 1
132,817 11 7
163,826 17 2
126,599 12 2
160.325 8 3
£1,303,400 8 11
£ s. d.
£ s. d.
98,457 8 10
87.939 12 4
257.476 9 11
215.955 18 4
270,637 19 0
281,367 1 9
272,462 16 4
290, 166 13 10
344.089 9 11
308,159 11 5
342,175 8 3
150.389 7 9
150. 535 13 9
150,717 12 3
155.749 0 9
157,074 12 3
157.349 2 3
180,262 12 9
181,559 19 3
181,850 0 0
£1,465,488 1 0
£2,768,888 9 11
The total of the above figures is ^8.564,203 5s. 3d.
134
ENORMOUS FISCAL POWER OF EACH MEMBER.
observation of their representatives. This is impracticable
under the existing constitution of the Board. The number
of members being only 45 to a population of over 3,000,000
and a rental of ^15, 2 50,000 annual value,* there is, on
the average, to each member a representation of sixty-six
thousand six hundred constituents and of three hundred and
thirty-eight thousand eight hundred pounds annual value — an
amount of responsibility and duty imposed, and of fiscal power
conferred, altogether without parallel elsewhere in reference to
local administration. The average representative power of
one member of the Board of Works exceeds the whole of
THE ENTIRE CORPORATE REPRESENTATION of any of the Cities
and Towns undermentioned : —
Cities and Boroughs of less Population than 66,600
Persons, and of a less Rental than ,£338,800.
Bath
Gateshead
Oxford
Birkenhead
Gloucester
Warwick
Cheltenham
Halifax
Walsall
Derby
Hastings
Reading
Exeter
Wigan
Rochdale
Ashton-under-Lyne
Weymouth
Rochester
Cambridge
Tamworth
Salisbury
Southampton
Hereford
Shrewsbury
Chester
Huddersfield
Shields
Winchester
Ipswich
Stafford
Colchester
Kidderminster
Stockport
York
Lancaster
Worcester
Coventry
Lincoln
Yarmouth
Dover
Macclesfield
Wakefield
Dudley
Maidstone
Tynemouth
Durham
Northampton
* Now, 1876, £23,423,223.
LOCAL INTERESTS NOT R! ID. 1 35
Thus, we see that each individual member of the Metro-
politan Board of Works is intrusted with a greater amount of
fiscal power than is conferred upon the Mayor and Town
Council of any one of these cities and towns.
The Corporation Commissioners (1854) emphatically and
justly condemned the extension of the Municipal boundaries
of the City to the limits of the Metropolis, on this very
ground of the impossibility of adequately representing local
interests by one body, in an area of such magnitude. They
report : —
"A change of this magnitude would .... defeat, the main purpose of
Municipal institutions. London, taken to its full extent, is a province
covered with houses ; its diameter, from north to south, and from east to
west, is so great that the persons living at its furthest extremities
have few interests in common ; its area is so large that each inhabitant is
in general acquainted only with his own quarter^ and has no minute know-
ledge of other parts of the town. Hence the first two conditions for
Municipal government, minute local knowledge, and community of interests,
would be wanting if the whole of London were placed under a single
Corporation." — Report \ p. xiv.
The defect of the Board, as it regards the representation
of local interests, arising from the vastness of its jurisdiction
and the paucity of its members, will be apparent on reference
to some of the Districts represented. For instance — one mem-
ber for Camberwell represents Camberwell, Dulwich and
Peckham ; one member for Greenwich represents the towns
of Greenwich and Deptford ; one member for Wandsworth
represents the six localities of Clapham, Battersea, Wands-
worth, Lower Tooting, Putney and Streatham ; two members
for Lambeth represent the four separate districts of Lambeth,
Norwood, Kennington and Brixton. The list might be further
extended.
It will be seen that the defects of the Metropolitan Board
of Works consist in departures from established constitutional
136 REPRESENTATION INEQUITABLE.
principles — recognized and tested, through many centuries,
in other Cities and Boroughs. They would have attracted
more attention, and, in all probability, would have engendered
more abuses, had it not been for the accident of the selection
of a gentleman to preside over the Board, who unites in his
person a large amount of tact with a good share of common-
sense and much administrative experience. Sir John Thwaites
has afforded the Board all the weight of his official character,
and has possibly averted from it some obloquy — thereby
contributing to prolong its existence.
Let us now consider the constitution and composition of
the Board as a representative body, relatively to the City of
London and the other districts of the Metropolis.
And here, again, we find that established, well recognized
and equitable principles of local administration have been
violated as it regards the distribution and allocation of the
members among the various Districts.
The last Census return of the population (1861), and the
sheet of rateable annual value published by the Metropolitan
Board of Works, throw considerable light upon the compara-
tive claims of the several Districts to a greater or lesser share
in the representation. Nor can there be a doubt that there
is urgent need for a thorough revision of the existing system,
if the Board is to continue.
The diversity in property qualification, and the irrelevancy
of the representation to the rateability of the constituencies
is well exemplified in the subjoined table ; in which are set
out the several Districts represented at the Metropolitan
Board of Works, their District rateability respectively, the
number of members now returned by each, and the fiscal power
exercised by each member of the Board.
FISCAL POWER OF EACH MEMBER.
137
Districts.
District
Eateability.
ivuirnt'M to ,
Metropolitan1
I'ower
Of
each Member.
£
Works.
£
City of London
2,109,935
3
703,045
St. George, Hanover Square
1,076,722
2
538,361
St. Marylebone
1,053,748
2
526,874
St. Pancras
925,872
2
462,936
Islington
777,632
2
388,816
Paddington
75**344
I
758,344
Lambeth
637,000
2
318,500
Kensington
5°M32
5OI^32
St. James, Westminster .
462,032
462,032
Lewisham
411,260
411,260
Shoreditch
386,044
193,022
Hackney
370,616
370,616
Wandsworth
361,400
361,400
Poplar
344,320
344,32o
Westminster
339,660
339,660
Chelsea ....
299,868
299,868
Strand ....
286,808
206,808
Whitechapel .
276,530
276,530
Greenwich
274,976
274,976
St. Giles-in-the-Fields
272,412
272,412
St. Martin-in-the-Fields
265,336
265,336
Camberwell
250,000
250,000
Clerkenwell
242,254
242,254
Newington
240,000
240,000
Limehouse
234,608
234,608
St. George's-in-the-East .
196,917
196,917
Holborn ....
194,619
194,619
Rotherhithe and St. Olave
194,200
194,200
Bethnal Green
192,116
192,116
Mile End Old Town
191,056
191,056
St. Luke's
186,452
186,452
Fulham ....
171,876
171,876
St. Saviour
164,000
164,000
Bermondsey
150,000
150,000
Hampstead
147,624
147,624
St. George, Southwark
146,000
146,000
Woolwich
83,000
83,000
138 ILLUSTRATIONS OF UNJUST REPRESENTATION.
To test the inequality of the rateable values conferring re-
presentation, let us take the two extreme cases as illustrations.
Every vote given by the member for Paddington represents
a rateability of ^758,344.
Every vote of the member for the parish of Woolwich,
represents a rateability of only ^83,000.
The one is more than nine times the amount of the other ;
yet their votes are equal, on all divisions at the Board !
The ten members for the City, St. George's Hanover
Square, Marylebone, Pancras and Paddington, represent
each, on an average, a rental of ,£592,462.
The four members for St. Luke's, St. Saviour's, Hampstead
and St. George's Southwark, represent each but ^161,019.
Yet the votes of each of the fourteen representatives are
equal 7 Surely this should be called /^-representation.
Each of the following districts has a population inferior to
the sleeping or minimum population of the City of London —
namely, Limehouse, Holborn, Rotherhithe and St. Olave, St.
George's-in-the-East, Mile End Old Town, St. Luke, Bethnal
Green, St. Saviour, Hampstead, Bermondsey, St. George's
Southwark and Woolwich.
Their average population is less than one-half of that of
the City of London, even by the midnight census. Tested by
the day census of 283,520 persons, it is found to be less than
one fifth. It is, therefore, clear that they are not entitled,
on the ground of numbers, to the representation which they
possess at the Metropolitan Board.
On the ground of property also it may be affirmed, without
CITY MOST INADEQUATELY REPRESENT! 1 39
disparagement to these less important districts, that, if the
representation be allotted upon an equitable principle, the
City of London is not half represented as it should be at the
Metropolitan Board.
The rateable property of the City is : —
Eight-fold that of the district of Limehouse j
Ten-fold that of Holborn, or Rotherhithe and St Olave,
or St. George's-in-the-East ;
Eleven-fold that of Mile End Old Town, or St. Luke or
Bethnal Green ;
Twelve-fold that of St. Saviour ;
Fourteen-fold that of Hampstead, or Bermondsey, or St.
George Southwark ;
Twenty-five fold that of Woolwich ■!
The aggregate rateable value of the whole of these twelve
districts is ^2,080,5 92.
That of the City of London is ^£2, 109,935.
The lesser amount of taxable property, i.e., in the twelve
districts, is represented at the Board by twelve members !
The greater amount of taxable property, i.e., in the City,
is represented at the Board by three members !
If the lesser sum gives a title to twelve, surely the
greater sum should, equitably, give the City at least the same
number of representatives.
St. George's Hanover Square and Shoreditch have each
140 OTHER DISTRICTS INADEQUATELY REPRESENTED.
two representatives at the Metropolitan Board. The population
of the foimer is 87,771, that of the latter 129,364. The
rateability of St. George's being ^1,076,722, and that of
Shoreditch ^386,044, the representative privilege should be
as 5 to 2 — i.e., if Shoreditch should have two, St. George's
should have five, with a surplus of ,£111,612 in its rateability,
as a set-off against the 41,593 of deficient population.
Marylebone has a population of 161,680 against the
155,341 of Islington — with rateable property to the amount of
,£1,053,748 against ,£777,632. Yet they have each two repre-
sentatives. Surely the excess of ,£276,116 should give three
members as against the two members of the inferior district ;
especially as there are 19 districts of a rateability less than the
excess of Marylebone over Islington — each of them having a
representative at the Board.
Pancras has 198,788 inhabitants, and Greenwich but
85,975, an excess of 112,813 in favour of the former. Pancras
is also the more wealthy by ,£650,896, which should give it
arithmetically and equitably, at least a third member ; seeing
also that there are thirty-one districts of a rateability inferior
to the excess of Pancras over Greenwich. Paddington affords
another illustration of inadequate representation.
The above figures prove, with the force of demonstration,
that the City of London is, beyond all comparison, the
district most inadequately represented at the Metropolitan
Board of Works ; whilst several other Districts are, in various
degrees, placed at a disadvantage, and others, again, unduly
favoured. This must be remedied before any further fiscal
powers are conferred.
But the question arises — upon what principle ? Whatever
EQUITABLE REPRESENTATION EXPEDJ I 141
views may be held on the subject of political representation
(on which we express no opinion), there can be no doubt
whatever that, as it regards fiscal representation, rateable
value must be taken into account, if not solely, at least in
conjunction with population.
This should be so on the ground of equity ; but it would
also be found to be expedient on the score of good policy. It
cannot be doubted that, in addition to mere representation, it
is most desirable that a Board intrusted with such extraor-
dinary powers as the Metropolitan Board of Works, should
obtain the largest possible amount of administrative capacity
and general intelligence. This can be best accomplished, and
at the cost of least violence to established representative
principles, by conferring on the districts in which the rentals
are highest, their due share of representation. To act other-
wise is to empower the poorer districts to send an undue
proportion of representatives ; who, however respectable they
may be personally, may not be best calculated to bring to the
aid of the Board that weight which position, education and
administrative experience can alone bestow.
The landed aristocracy of the West, and the monied and
mercantile aristocracy of the City, afford the most promising
recruiting grounds for an intelligent class of representatives.
The City and the Western districts have, inadequately as they
have been represented, returned to the Board the members of
the highest social position — Westminster and Chelsea being
represented by members of Parliament, whilst the City has sent
two representatives who have been members of Parliament,
and three who have served the office of Lord Mayor. Com-
parisons of this kind are invidious and commonly undesirable ;
but it may be generally assumed that gentlemen who have
142 BOARD MUST BE RECONSTITUTED.
attained a high social position, and who command the con-
fidence of Parliamentary or Municipal constituencies, must
be possessed, in some degree, of the requisite administrative
experience.
Why the influential Districts of Marylebone, St. Pancras
and Paddington should be insufficiently represented — why the
City of London, standing as it does at the head of the rest
of the Metropolis, as it regards population, wealth and
rateable value, and whose citizens occupy no inferior posi-
tion in respect of intelligence — should have been curtailed
of one half its representative influence, surpasses our
comprehension. But, notice being directed to the subject by
the very exceptional attention which the City has received at
the hands of the Board, in being favoured by an annual
augmentation of its taxable rental — it is probable that the
citizens will think themselves entitled to be placed upon a
more intimate footing with a Board which has shewn itself so
careful of their interests.
We have now only to indicate the number of Members,
which, upon the principles enunciated, should be apportioned
to each District, if the Board be continued; so that repre-
sentation and fiscal power should go hand in hand. And as
we have shewn that 45 members is a number utterly inade-
quate to the grave responsibility and onerous duties of the
Metropolitan Board of Works, we append to the following
table, columns shewing the proportions of members to the
several Districts for a Board of 45 members ; as well as for
a Board of double that number : —
EXISTING AND SUGGESTED REPRESENTATION.
143
Districts represented on the
Metropolitan Board of Works.
District
District
IUteability.
Population
£
2.109,935
283,520
1.076,722
87.771
1,053,748
161,680
925,872
198,788
777,632
155.341
758,344
75.784
637,000
162,044
501,132
70, 108
462,032
35.326
411,260
65.737
386,044
129,364
370,616
83.295
361,400
70,403
339,660
67,890
344.320
79, 196
299, 868
63.439
286,808
42,898
276,530
78,970
274,976
85.975
272,412
54.076
265,336
22,689
250,000
71,488
242,254
65,681
240,000
82,220
234,608
56.572
196,917
48,891
194,619
45.463
194,200
43 558
192,116
105,101
191,056
73.064
186,452
57.073
171,876
40,058
164,000
36.170
150,000
58,355
147,624
19,106
146,000
55.5IO
83,000
41,695
a£%
111
*3
I
ill
Bill
ittJ
1111
City of London
St. George's, Hanover Sq.
St. Marylebone
St. Pancras 1
Islington
Paddington
Lambeth
Kensington
St. James's, Westminster.
Lewisham
Shoreditch
Hackney
Wandsworth
Westminster
Poplar
Chelsea
Strand
Whitechapel
Greenwich
St. Giles's-in-the-Fields ...
St. Martin 's-in-the- Fields.
Camberwell
Clerkenwell
Newington
Limehouse
St. George's-in-the-East..
I Holborn
i Rotherhithe and £t. Olave
Bethnal Green
J Mile End Old Town ..
I St. Luke's
I Fulham
St. Saviour
' Bermondsey
J Hampstead
I St. George, Southwark
Woolwich
62
3'2
3"i
27
2 '3
22
r8
1 '5
1 "4
I'2
1*1
II
IO
IO
1*0
•8
•8
•8
•8
•8
7
7
7
7
7
•6
•6
•6
•6
'5
'5
5
•5
"4
'4
'4
•2
4'5
t'4
2'5
31
2'4
1*9
2 '5
II
'5
IO
20
1 '3
11
10
i*a
10
•6
I-2
1 '3
•8
•3
11
10
13
9
7
7
•6
16
11
"9
•6
•5
•9
3
•8
•6
5"3
23
2'9
2'9
2'3
17
21
1 '3
IO
II
1 '5
I-2
IO
IO
I*X
'9
7
10
10
•8
"5
'9
'9
I'O
•8
7
7
•6
i*i
•8
7
•5
*5
•6
•4
•6
•4
107
4'6
5'6
5-8
47
3 '4
43
26
1 "9
9*9
3'I
2'4
21
2 0
2 2
18
I '2
2 0
21
1 "4
I'O
18
i"7
20
16
1 '3
1 '3
I "2
9*9
16
1 '4
10
10
1 '3
7
1*9
•8
144 CHANGES IMPERATIVELY DEMANDED.
A glance at the above table will shew the changes
which are imperatively demanded in the constitution of the
Metropolitan Board of Works, as it regards the return of
Representatives by the several Districts. It proves, moreover,
that while the Board is limited to 45 members, it is utterly
impracticable to apportion representation to either population
or rateability, or both united.
For —
1. There are no less than twenty-two Districts (see col. 2)
which are not entitled to one representative each out
of 45, on the ground of Rateable value.
2. There are fifteen Districts (see col. 3) which are disentitled
to one representative each out of 45, on the ground of
Population.
3. There are eighteen Districts (see col. 4) which are dis-
entitled to one representative each out of 45, on the
ground of Rateability and Population united.
' Whilst injustice is thus done by conferring on these
Districts one member each, being in excess of their just
requirements, the principles of equity are violated in the
opposite direction, by depriving the following Districts of their
due share of representation (see cols. 1 and 4) : — *
The City of London is accorded 3 members instead of 5
St. Marylebone „ 2 members „ 3
St. Pancras ,, 2 members „ 3
Paddington „ 1 member „ 2
If the number of the Members of the Board were doubled
* Decimal fractions over -5 are treated as unity.
DISTRICTS IN THE ORDER OF THEIR CLAIMS.
145
(say 89), it would be practicable to deal out something like
even-handed justice j and, treating decimal fractions over and
under -5 as units respectively, we find that the following would
be the number of representatives allocated to the several
Districts; which we arrange in the order of their claims to
representation : —
Districts of Metropolitan
Board.
1. City of London
2. St. Pancras
3. St Marylebone
4. Islington
5. St.George's, Hanover J
Square »
6. Lambeth
7. Paddington
8. Shoreditch
9. Kensington
10. Hackney
11. Lewisham
1 2. Bethnal Green
13. Poplar
14. Wandsworth
15. Greenwich
16. Westminster
17. Whitechapel
18. Newington
19. St. James's, Westminstei
2 i
.20 j
g o §
o u
Districts of Metropolitan
Board.
20.
21.
22.
23
24
25-
20.
27.
2&
29.
3D-
31.
32-
33-
34-
35-
3*
37-
Chelsea
Camberwell
Clerkenwell
Limehouse
Mile End Old Town ..,
St. Giles's-in-the- Fields
St. Luke's
Bermondsey
Rotherhithe & St. Olave
St. George's-in-the-East
Holborn
Strand
St. George's, South wark
Fulham
St. Martin's
St. Saviour's
Woolwich
Hampstead
Total.
89
We have thus indicated, we hope with sufficient clearness,
the principles of Representation in the Metropolitan Board of
10
146 PRINCIPLES OF RECONSTRUCTION
Works, which, we fully believe, can alone secure the confidence
of the represented — if, indeed, the experimental existence of
the Board is to be prolonged.
We would briefly summarize them as : —
1. Direct representation and accountability.
2. Increase in the number of members to at least double
the existing number.
»
3. More efficient sub-division for representation of local
interests.
4. Allocation of members to Districts in proportion to
their populations and rateable values.
Some such reorganization might possibly reconcile the
Metropolis to a continuance of the extraordinary taxing
powers now vested in and sought by the Board. If
amendments, similar in principle to those shadowed forth,
be not speedily introduced into the constitution of the
Board, the fiscal screw, by a few more revolutions being
brought to the crushing power, will extort a cry from
the least sensitive, and arouse the most apathetic to
seek relief in change. The Metropolitan Board is not one
of our institutions venerable by reason of their antiquity,
and with which the cautious shrink from intermeddling lest
they should destroy what they cannot re-constitute. Its crea-
tion dates only from 1855, and it is, and was from the first,
regarded as an experiment. "The act of 1855 was an
attempt " — to quote from Sir William Fraser's amusing little
brochure — " a simple form, to be ultimately developed. I do
not consider, nor, what is more important, does the Public
IF THE BOARD IS TO CONTINUE. 1 47
consider, that these gentlemen are fully qualified to hold such
vast patronage and control, and to spend such gigantic
sums, as a general management of London would place in
their hands. They are Trilobites, and must give place to a
higher order of creation."*
* " London Self- Governed." By Sir William Fraser, Bart., M.P.
CHAPTER VII.
METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITIES— the various sug-
gestions IN REFERENCE THERETO AND THE FUTURE OF
THE METROPOLIS.
THE Metropolitan Board of Works, in common with
many of our institutions, is, as we have stated, the
result of a compromise. The Whig party, which has ruled the
country almost continuously for the last thirty years, although
making professions favourable to administration by popular
representation, has notoriously postponed, as long as was
possible, the practical application of that principle as it regards
both national and local government. Hence, as we have
affirmed elsewhere, the creation of this parody of local repre-
sentative government for the Metropolis.
To the evident indisposition of the ruling party, to bring
their own principles to the test of experiment, we must attri-
bute the reluctance which has been displayed to confer Muni-
cipal institutions on the unenfranchised Districts of the
Metropolis; although such districts equal, as it regards rate-
able value, three-fifths of the aggregated Parliamentary and
Municipal Boroughs of England, and possess a population
GOVERNMENT JEALOUSY OF MUNICIPALITIES. 1 49
amounting to nearly o?ie-half of that of such aggregate
Boroughs. Hence the repeated Commissions to inquire, but
none to remedy the inconvenience which efflux of time and
growth of population have introduced into the local adminis-
tration of London ; hence the attempt, speedily abandoned — to
govern London from the bureau of Her Majesty's Chief Com-
missioner of Works ; hence the conferring upon a Commis-
sioner of Police — irresponsible to Parliament or to Municipa-
lity— powers of organizing, arming and disposing of a
quasi-military force, in violation of every principle of Consti-
tutional government ; hence the repeated attempts to despoil
the citizens of London of cherished free customs and privi-
leges (held from time immemorial and defended successfully
against the attacks of despotic monarchs and corrupt courts),
not because such privileges had been abused, or because
their free exercise was dreaded in the particular instance,
but because no settled faith in representative government
existed, and it was consequently determined that no such
free institutions should be conferred on unenfranchised
London, as were enjoyed by the City of London, in com-
mon with every considerable City and Borough in the king-
dom.
It is painful to one professing liberal sentiments, to put
upon record that, while the Whigs have been in power, no
efficient step has been taken towards conferring or improving
Municipal institutions in the Metropolis ; whilst no oppor-
tunity has been neglected to destroy, injure, or lower in
public estimation the only Municipality in the Capita) of the
Empire, based upon the tried and efficient system of our
Saxon ancestors. Such, for instance, were the persistent
efforts of the Government, for fifteen years — from 1842 to
150 ATTACKS ON THE CITY'S PRIVILEGES.
1857 — to prevent the Corporation of London from Embanking
the Thames; the attacks upon the citizens in 1839, and again
in 1863, to wrest from them the control of their Police Force,
seeking to reduce them, in point of independence, below
every Provincial Municipality in the Kingdom (with how
much reason or justice will be seen by the contents of Chapter
V.). Such were the strenuous but abortive efforts of the
Government of 1848, to prevent the passing of the Bill
increasing the power of the City to deal with Sanitary
matters within their jurisdiction (the results of which in-
creased authority will be alluded to presently) ; to all
which may be added the dog-in-the-manger conduct of the
late Government, during the past Session, in opposing
and throwing out in Committee, the City's Bill for regulat-
ing the street traffic, and for the erection of street-bridges,
to secure the safe crossing of crowded thoroughfares ; and
this, too, not because the measure was needless or the
Bill defective, or that the Government were prepared
with a better, but avowedly on the ground that the
Bill, promoted by the City, did not deal with the whole
Metropolis.*
It is even more painful to add, that these and other per-
sistent efforts to extinguish popular rights, and to hinder
self-improvement or extended public usefulness on the part
of the City, received the support of several members for Metro-
politan Boroughs — professed opponents of despotic forms of
government, and pledged to the maintenance of popular
rights.
Such has been the apathy of the Londoners as it regards
* A return of the lives lost and limbs broken since 1866, would point
the moral of the above observation.
HINDRANCE OF THE THAMES EMBANKM1 I 5 I
local administration, and such is the forgetfulness of the
public mind, that it becomes needful to recall to recollection,
and to record afresh what has been transpiring in these
respects.*
To allude to the great work of the Thames Embankment.
It is, this year (1867), just a quarter of a century since the
Thames was surveyed in reference to that important Metropolitan
improvement, as designed by the Corporation of London,
and agreed to be effected at their expense. It would have-
been completed eighteen years since, at, probably, a fourth
part of the expense which it will now involve, had it not
been for the discovery by the Government, simultaneously
with the determination on the part of the Corporation to
carry it into effect — that the soil of the river (over which no
legal ownership had been exercised by the Government within
historical memory) formed a portion of the hereditary
revenues of the Crown. A chancery suit was instituted by
the Government, who persistently opposed every attempt at
a legislative settlement. For fifteen long years — from 1842
to 1857 — all progress in the Embankment was thus barred ;
and it is a singular commentary upon the jealousy of the
Government, lest the Municipal authority should exercise its
rights beneficially, that three heads of that Government have
passed away, whilst nineteen of the twenty members of the
Corporation who formed the Committee, caused the river to
be surveyed, and signed the Report to the Common Council in
1842, are now no more.
* As an illustration of popular inattention to local matters, we point
out the following statement by Sir William Fraser : — " The very year that
the Metropolitan Board came into existence, the Thames Embankment was
designed." That Board was created in 1855, the Thames was surveyed and
the line of Embankment laid down by the Corporation of London, 13 year-
earlier, in 1842, as above narrated.
152 EMBANKMENT DESIGNED IN 1 842.
It is interesting to notice that Mr. Alderman Finnis, the
only surviving member of the Committee recommending the
Embankment scheme, sat recently upon the Metropolitan
Board of Works, engaged in its construction; and has had
the good fortune to live to witness its completion.
As, by the efflux of time, a generation has nearly elapsed
since the projection of this scheme, and it has already passed
into the region of history, we append an extract from the
Report of the Thames Navigation Committee, adopted by the
Court of Common Council in 1842 (see Appendix I.), and we
introduce here an account of the transaction as furnished by
the late Recorder, the Rt. Hon. J. Stuart Wortley, M.P.
' ' From time immemorial, probably from the period when the Thames
'* was first embanked in very ancient times, the Corporation of London
"have possessed the Conservancy, and Soil, and bed of the river. They
"have claimed and exercised the right from time to time of granting
" licenses to embank, in cases where it has been considered beneficial to the
" river, applying the proceeds to the removal of shoals and other purposes
"of improvement on the river.
" In 1842, the Corporation contemplated a large expenditure of money
"for the purpose of carrying into execution and improvement of the river
"upon a more extended scale than had before been attempted; but in
' ' order that they might receive the best advice before they commenced
" the undertaking, they applied to the Admiralty for the assistance of Cap-
"tain Bullock, R.N., who had been engaged in surveys for that Board for
"many years, and Mr. James Walker, Pres. Ins. C.E. Captain Bullock
"and the officers of the Corporation in Harbour and Conservancy service
" made a survey of the Thames within the limits of the City's jurisdiction,
"and presented an able and elaborate report, recommending a definite
' ' system for the future management of the river and its branches, for the
• ' purpose of removing shoals, securing the banks, and erecting steamboat-
THE CROWN HINDERS THE CORPORATK r 153
"piers where requisite. As this project contemplated the expenditure of
"a very large sum of money, the opinion of the most eminent counsel
"was taken as to the legal power of the Corporation to carry it into
** execution, and to apply the fines or rents, which might be received from
" the owners of wharf property wishing to embank, in defraying the great
" charges of the improvement.
"Counsel were unanimously of opinion that the Corporation were
" fully justified in taking this course. The Report was printed and exten-
sively circulated ; and the removal of the shoals was about to be com-
" menced, when the solicitors of the Woods and Forests filed an information
' ' against the Corporation, which had the effect of restraining them from
"executing their design. The ground alleged for this step was, that by
"the prerogative right of the Crown, the soil and bed of all rivers within
' ' the flux and reflux of the tide forms a part of the hereditary revenues
" of the Crown, and that when the state of the river justified its Embank-
" ment, the ground reclaimed from the river should be let or sold for the
" benefit of the Sovereign, as part of the Crown estates.
"The Corporation under the advice of most distinguished counsel
' ' unconnected with them, controverted this position, and they have taken
"such proceedings in resisting the claim of the Crown, as counsel have
• ' from time to time advised ; always professing their readiness to be bound
"by Act of Parliament to apply the revenue which might be derived
" from this source as they had previously done, not to corporate uses, but
" for the benefit of the River. The Corporation have been in negotiation
" with the Government during almost the whole time the suit has been
"pending, for a settlement of all differences connected with the river, in
"a manner that would be just to the Crown and the Corporation, and at
' • the same time beneficial to the public. These negotiations are still
" pending, and as auxiliary to this object, the Corporation have each year
* f placed themselves in a position before Parliament to enable them, in
"case the proposed arrangement with the Crown could be accomplished,
" to carry it into effect by means of a Bill." — From a paper laid before
t/ie Corporation Inquiry Commission (1854), by the Rt. Hon. J. Stuart
IVortley, M.P., Recorder. (Vide also Appendix L).
From the hindrance of the Thames Embankment, we
154 CORPORATION HAS - COMPLETED ITS SEWAGE.
proceed to consider the strenuous opposition to the bestowal
of increased Sanitary powers upon the Corporation of London
in 1848.
Previously to that year the Commissioners of Sewers
for the City, appointed by the Corporation, had completed
an efficient system of sewers for the thoroughfares within
their jurisdiction. The great Fleet Sewer, still the largest
of this class of structures in the Metropolis, was constructed
by the Corporation and the City Commission of Sewers. As
early as 1842 the engineer of that body had reported the
completion of the London Bridge Sewer. These were the
first of those large arterial structures which have subse-
quently been introduced into other parts of the Metropolis,
but in respect of which the City municipality led the way
and set the example. Mr. Kelsey, since that date, had been
enabled to report —
"Within the last thirteen years— that is, since you obtained an outlet
" at London Bridge — sewers have been built in one hundred and sixty-eight
' ' different streets and places ; and the map of the City with its sewers,
" which, by your direction, I have had the honour of laying before you,
" will at once shew that, including old and new, the sewage lines are com-
" plete in your district. Although it cannot yet be said that not a street,
" or court, or alley in the whole City is without adequate drainage, yet
" there is fair ground for hope that but few years will elapse before so
"desirable a statement can, with truth, be made."
Subsequently to that period, Mr. Haywood, the present
very efficient Engineer of the Commission, had been enabled
to report that every street, lane, court and alley, without
exception, had been provided with adequate and efficient
sewers, and the eminent engineers, Sir William Cubitt and
Messrs. Brunell and Walker, inspected the works and con-
firmed by their report the facts stated.
OPPOSITION OF GOVERNMENT. 1 55
Although the remaining districts of the Metropolis were,
at the date to which we refer, provided with Commissions
of Sewers appointed by the Crown, yet of none of them could
it be affirmed, in 1848, that their system of sewage was com-
plete, or indeed approached completion.
It was under these circumstances that a Government,
jealous of Municipal efficiency, brought all its weight to bear
against any extension of the powers of the City, and employed
persistently its influence to postpone the second reading of
the City's Bill, until, finding its own "Health of Towns"
Bill in jeopardy, the Government withdrew its opposition,
and the City's Bill passed — thereby conferring immense benefit
upon the City, and indirectly upon the Metropolis.
The steps resorted to by the Government in opposition to
the passing of that measure, were such as should never have
been practised by any administration of a free country ; and
were we to disclose what came to our knowledge in that respect,
it would cause the utmost astonishment to the freedom-loving
people of London.
The Bill, however, having become law, the first step, in
the exercise of the powers it conferred, was the election of a
Medical Officer for the City. The appointment of Mr. Simon
to that post was the signal for an outburst of journalistic
criticism in the Government organs, happily unusual on the
part of our fair-dealing press. Misrepresenting the emolu-
ment offered to that gentleman (^500 a year and the
retention of his private practice) as £$0 a year, the censure
inflicted upon the Municipality was unstinted, and the pre-
dictions as to the unfitness of the City Corporation to exercise
Sanitary powers were declared to be most abundantly verified
156 GRATIFYING SANITARY RESULTS.
Yet the same Government promoted that highly-qualified
gentleman, whose merits had been first discovered by the
Corporation, to the post of Medical officer to the Privy
Council — thus tacitly admitting the judicious exercise of the
sanitary powers, the bestowal of which upon the City they had
laboured so strenuously to prevent.
Upon the elevation of Mr. Simon, the City of London
selected Dr. Letheby, the celebrated analytic chemist, to be
his successor. Eighteen years have now elapsed , since the
City obtained and began to exercise its increased powers —
a period long enough to afford facts sufficient for safe
generalization. It happens, also, singularly enough, that the
period in question opens and closes with a visitation of
cholera. In 1849, in 1854, and again in 1866, that epidemic
paid the Metropolis a visit. Let us endeavour to ascertain
how a free Municipality, with adequate powers accorded
to it, is able to grapple with that class of disorders (alvine)
to which cholera is allied.
By dividing the period of eighteen years — 1849 to 1866 —
into three periods of six years, and comparing the results of
sanitary measures upon the deaths in each period, we obtain
means for testing the progress of sanitary improvement,
since the period when the City Commissioners of Sewers
obtained their powers for dealing with disease within their
jurisdiction.
The following table, compiled from figures obligingly
furnished us by Dr. Letheby, enables us to illustrate statis-
tically the improved and improving sanitary condition of the
City, since the appointment of Mr. Simon and himself as
Officers of health for the City of London : —
SANITARY IMPROVl
157
The Total Number of Deaths in the City, in the Years 1 849 to
1866, with the Proportions of Deaths from Alvine Disorders.
Years.
Deaths from
Total Number Alviiie Dis-
of Deaths, orders amongst
Adults.
Ratio per 1,000
of all Deaths.
Ratio per 10,000
of Population.
1849
3>763
825^
1850
2,752
54
1851
2,978
23
1852
3»<>64
37
64-2
93 '5
1853
3>°40
43
1854
3*335
233^
1855
3,400
881
1856
2,910
34
1857
2,904
38
.
I4-2
20 "O
1858
2,883
38
1859
2,911
3i
i860
2,747
23^
l86l
2,845
24-
1862
2,726
15
1863
2,870
22
I2'5
181
1864
2,900
20
1865
2,673
18
1866
2,544
109.
It will thus be seen that, simultaneously with the progress
158
CHOLERA DEATH-RATE REDUCED.
of sanitary measures, since the exercise of powers bestowed in
1848, the mortality from alvine disorders has been steadily
declining; for, while in the first period of six years — 1849 t0
1854 — the average mortality from such disorders was at the
rate of 64*2 per 1,000 deaths, or 93*5 per 10,000 of the popu-
lation ; it was, in the next period of six years — 1855 to i860 —
but 14*2 per 1,000 deaths, or 20 per 10,000 of the popu-
lation; whilst, in the six years which have just expired, 1861
— 1866, it was 12-5 per 1,000 deaths, or 18*1 per 10,000 of the
population.
With respect to the diminished mortality from alvine
disorders at each successive visitation of cholera within the
period of eighteen years, the proportions of mortality in the
City of London were as follows : —
Visitations of Cholera.
Ratio per 1,000 of all
Deaths.
Ratio per 10,000 of
Population.
1849
1854
1866
2I9'2
69-8
42-8
63'5
i8-5
9*5
Such has been the progress within the City as the result
of sanitary improvement, that the one ratio has fallen from
219*2 to 42*8, and the other from 63-5 to 9*5 !
But a more striking testimony to improved Sanitary
action is aiforded by the figures understated, which tell of
the extent to which the force of cholera has been reduced at
successive visitations since 1848, and of the comparative
immunity of the City in relation to that disease in 1866.
FORCE OF CHOLERA ABATED.
159
Proportions of Deaths from Cholera, in London and other
Cities and Towns of Europe.
(Furnished by the City Medical Officer.)
Fears.
Cities.
Populations.
Deaths
from
Cholera.
Ratio of
Deaths
per 10,000
of
Population
1849
1864
1866
London, City and Liberties
Metropolis
„ Eastern Districts.
,, Central
Liverpool
Paris (1865)
Vienna
Naples
Amsterdam
Ditto, with other Dutch
Towns
I
Brussels
Ditto, with other Bel-
gian Towns
130,000*
126,060*
114,472*
3*037,991
607,945
359,219
484,373
1,696,141
560,000
446,931
262,691
826464
184,932
634,344
728
211
93
5,548
3,969
329
i,754
6,653
2,875
2,301
1,104
8,872
3,028
[1,771
56-0
16.7
8-i
18-2
65*3
9-2
36-2
39-2
5i'3
5i'5
42*0
107-3
1637
185-6
We see, then, that the City of London has not only been
less and less subject to the epidemic at each recurring visi-
tation, but that during the last visitation it stood more free
from the disease than the Central or Eastern Divisions of the
* Nocturnal populations of the City and Liberties, subject to the
jurisdiction of the Commissioners of Sewers.
i6o
GENERAL DEATH-RATE IMPROVED.
Metropolis, which abut upon its confines, and that, when
compared with the other chief cities of Europe, its immunity
from the pestilence is very marked.
The Eastern Metropolis, it will be seen, had 3,969
deaths from cholera in 1866, against 93 in the City. Had
the Eastern Metropolis been furnished with free Municipal
organization, and had it been in a position to wrest from an
unwilling Government adequate powers to organize a staff of
competent and well-paid Sanitary officers, the death figures
would not have made so sad a record in the statistics of the
Metropolis.
The City of London now occupies no second place, as it
regards the average death-rate j indeed, of urban popu-
lations it occupies one of the highest positions; as will be
seen by inspection of the following table from Dr. Letheby's
annual report for 1866 : —
Death-rate per 1,000 of the Populations of England for Ten
Years, and for the last year, 1866.
Districts.
Average of 10 Years.
1866.
26*4
28'2
2i-3
24-8
24'0
24*3
19-9
22'2
23'8
26'8
i8-2
22*2
26*2
267
20-3
23*4
West London Union
The Metropolis
Districts of Chief Towns . ,.;
All England ,
SANITARY CONDITION OF CITY IMPROVED. l6l
These proportions shew that the Sanitary condition of
each district of the City has greatly improved during the last
ten years, the average death-rate having been reduced to the
extent of about u per cent. They shew, also, that the
mortality in the City is much less than that of the whole
Metropolis and of the large towns of England. It stands, .
indeed, exactly at the average proportion (22*2) for all
England during the last ten years. It will be seen further,
that comparing the average of the last ten years with the year
which is just past, the ratio of the death-rate has risen in the
Metropolis, in the Chief Towns, in the Country districts, and
in all England ; whilst it has declined considerably in the City
of London and in each of its divisions, as follows : —
It has risen in the Metropolis from 24-0 to 26*2
Ditto in the Chief Towns from 24*3 to 267
Ditto in the Country Districts... from 19-9 to 20*3
Ditto in All England from 22*2 to 23*4
It has declined in the whole City... from 24*8 to 22*2
Ditto in East London (City) ... from 26*4 to 23*8
Ditto in West London (City) ... from 28*2 to 26*8
Ditto in City Union (Centre) ... from 21-3 to 18 '2
If it should be attempted to be shewn that these results
are accidental, the following table of the amount and pro-
gression of one section only of sanitary work will prove that,
whether accidental or not, the results have been proportionate
to sanitary activity. Other illustrations of the same kind could
be adduced did our space permit.
162
RESULTS OF INCREASED ACTIVITY.
Number of Inspections of Houses and of Orders issued for
Sanitary Improvement in the City of London in each of
the last eleven years : —
Years.
Houses Inspected.
Orders Issued.
1856
5>40i
1,215
1857
5»924
2,031
1858
7,786
1,721
1859
9,587
1,984
i860
9,448
2,472
l86l
9,425
2,518
1862
8,693
2,455
1863
9,089
2,443
1864
10,700
3,179
1865
11,008
3,33i
, 1866
12,213
3,o68
It may be stated, in concluding this branch of the
subject, that there were seized, condemned and destroyed in
the City markets, 340,820 lbs. of meat, besides large quan-
tities of fish, game, poultry and venison, as unfit for human
food, during the year last past, being nearly double the
average of the previous year, and very largely in excess of
the quantity formerly seized, evidencing the increasing activity
of the Commissioners of Sewers — that branch of the Corpo-
ration which is specially charged with Sanitary matters
within the City of London.
To pass from the Embankment hindrance and the opposi-
CIT1 SUGGESTS THE POLICE SYSTEM. 163
tion on the part of the Government to the increased Sanitary
powers sought by the City, we proceed to notice, briefly,
another illustration afforded of the extreme jealousy of effi-
cient Municipal administration manifested by the Executive
Government. We allude to the subject of Police.
Here again the Municipality led the way towards improve-
ment and the Government followed; here again the latter
ungratefully attempted, again and again, to supplant the
power by which it had been instructed.
Until a very recent period the ancient system of " watch
and ward," exercised by all the male inhabitants, existed in the
City, the Metropolitan parishes and in the principal Cities
and Towns. This watch extended to the night only. The
Corporation of the City was the first to move in this respect,
by obtaining the Act 10, George II. Under that Act they
established the City Nightly Watch, and appointed watchmen
for the whole City. The next step was the appointment under
their corporate powers of a Day-Police, consisting of 100
men, uniformly clothed, placed under the control of one
head.
It was from these rudimentary, and at the time imperfect
elements of a Force, acting for the whole ninety parishes and
twenty-six wards of the City, that Sir Robert Peel derived
his plan for creating one Force to supersede the divided watch
in the Metropolitan parishes — that this was the case there
can be no doubt. The report of the Select Committee of the
House of Commons, in 1828, upon which the measure of Sir
Robert was based, contains the following : —
" Your Committee have not failed to observe, that the City of London
— from the nature of its Magistracy, the description of its various public
164 SIR ROBERT PEEL'S TESTIMONY.
officers, the gradation and subordination of their various classes, the divi-
sion and subdivision of its local limits — affords an example of that unity
and of that dependence of parts on each other, without which no well-
constructed and efficient system of Police can ever be expected. If such a
system could be successfully imitated in Westminster and its Liberties, and
within the other adjacent parishes, which have hitherto formed an uncon-
nected mass of scattered and uncontrolled local authorities, considerable
benefit might be expected to ensue. Your Committee are not prepared to
recommend any interference with the powers at present exercised by the
Municipal authorities of the City of London over the Police and Watch
Establishments of the City. They have reason to believe that material
improvements have been recently made in the general management of
these Establishments ; and they are confident that no petty jealousies as
to limits of exclusive jurisdiction will prevent a cordial concert and co-
operation between the authorities of the City of London, and those
which may be charged with the maintenance of the peace in an adjoining
district." — Report of Select Committee, House of Commons, 1828.
The Select Committee likewise recommended that the City
should have the option of maintaining a Police Force for the
Borough of Southwark — a step which, we fear, they were
short-sighted enough to decline. Sir Robert Peel, Home
Secretary, in introducing his Bill in 1829, for creating the
Metropolitan Police, stated expressly that, "The Bill did not
include the City of London, because it was already under an
efficient Police" — " Times," May 20th. " Hansard " and the
" Morning Chronicle " report more fully and explicitly : " Mr.
Peel said, If the City had not been included, it was because
the Committee had reported that the state of the nightly
Police there was much superior to that of Westminster."*
That which Mr. Secretary Peel affirmed in 1829, Under-Secre-
tary the Hon. Fox Maule (Lord Panmure) confirmed in effect
some years afterwards. He said in his place in Parliament :
* The "Advertiser" and the "Globe" also confirm the above
statement.
SIR GEORGE GREY'S TESTIMONY. 1 65
" This part of the measure having been considered by a Committee of
the House, I am happy to say that the members forming that Committee,
although of all shades of politics, have come almost to a unanimous
decision in favour of the opinion which has been so strongly expressed,
that the control over the Police, in the City of London, ought to be left in
the hands of those who now exercise that power. They are convinced that
a good and efficient Police would be kept up under their superintendence. "
That which Mr. Secretary Peel affirmed in 1829, and Mr.
Secretary Fox Maule reaffirmed, Sir George Grey, in effect,
repeated in 1856, on the occasion of introducing a Bill
for the " Reform " of the Corporation. He said, referring to
the claim of the City to exercise its ancient right of watch
and ward within its own jurisdiction : —
14 If this were a new claim made by the City of London, I think there
would be no reason for entertaining it ; but we find that under the powers
of an Act of Parliament passed many years ago, a most efficient body of
Police was established, which has since been in operation under the control
of a vsty able and efficient Commissioner. . . . Harmony and co-operation
have existed between the Metropolitan and the City Police, and between
the Government and the authorities of the City of London. The utmost
readiness has always been displayed by the authorities of the City to listen
to any suggestions which have been made by me with regard to the em-
ployment of the Police, and when it has been thought necessary to
strengthen the Police Force within the City by reinforcements from the
Metropolitan Police, the arrangements have been readily acquiesced in by
the authorities of the City, and perfect harmony has existed between the
two bodies. ... I think a strong case of practical inconvenience should be
established — stronger than any which I am prepared to say has yet arisen
— to induce Parliament to leave that Corporation in a position in which no
Municipal Corporation in the country is placed — namely, without any
Police Force under its own management. We do not, therefore, propose to
make any alteration with reference to the City Police, which will be left as
it now stands. "^-Sir George Grey, Home Secretary, April I, 1856.
Notwithstanding the repeated testimonies of those in
authority to the efficiency of the Police management of the
City of London, yet attempts — fruitless fortunately — were
made by the Whig party in 1839, and again in 1863, to wrest
1 66 THE FUTURE OF THE METROPOLIS.
from the citizens the control over the Force which protects
their property and conserves the peace of their City. We do
not allude to the subject here because that Force demands
any vindication at our hands. The duty which we have
attempted to discharge in a former chapter — a duty imposed
upon us by Sir Richard Mayne's unwise letter, and Mr. E.
Chadwick's imprudent use of it — does not justify us in
alluding further to this subject than to say, that the attacks
made by Government upon so efficient a Force afford another
striking illustration of the jealousy with which the Executive
regards the independent and efficient action of Municipal
bodies.
We have devoted a few pages to the necessary vindication
of Municipal Government in London, not so much on
account of the City— which holds, and intends to retain, its
ancient liberty in this respect — as for the sake of those
Districts of the Metropolis which at present are left by a
negligent Government at a disadvantage. Districts which in
the days of disorganization and weakness, surrendered to
other powers which should have been exercised by them-
selves j and who will never be constituted as independent and
duly organized representative bodies, will never exercise the
rights of free Municipalities, or take their proper place beside
the great Corporations of the Empire, until they cease to rail
at the more favoured, because more free, Municipality of
London, and demand, in tones which no Government can
misunderstand, every right enjoyed by the City and by the
provincial Corporations of the Kingdom.
And this introduces us to the question — What of the future
' of the Metropolis ?
So long as this question shall be left to the initiation of
GOVERNMENT HOSTILITY TO CITY. 1 67
Government, so long will the present status quo, the existing
inaction, continue ; and London will resemble nothing so
much as primeval chaos. Government will never enter
heartily or even willingly into any action for conferring free
representative institutions, in any form, upon three millions of
Metropolitans. To do so would be inconsistent with every
tradition and every instinct of the Executive. The struggles
of the City of London with the Ruling power, to obtain and
then to retain its rights of self-government, form the history
of 800 years. Under Norman, Plantagenet, Tudor, Stuart,
and Guelph, it has been the same. Every right has been paid
for three times over ; every immunity has been lost and won
again and again ; forfeited or confiscated by arbitrary power,
then reconferred by charter, or by Parliament; wrested from
unwilling hands by a happy conjuncture of circumstances, by
tender of political support, or by payments in hard cash.
In ancient times " the good old plan," a simple demand
from the Crown, sufficed to deprive the subject of his rights ;
in the days of the Stuarts the Star Chamber furnished the
convenient machinery j at the present date a Royal Commis-
sion, appointed to " denote a foregone conclusion," or an
undue crowding round a Royal carriage on an interesting
occasion, affords a convenient mode and pretext for curtailing
the liberty of the subject j or, if this do not succeed, then the
coveted Naboth's vineyard may be obtained, for those who
desire it, by the aid of the Jezebel of spurious statistics. All
the teaching of the past and of the present proclaims that
the governing power will never willingly and spontaneously
enfranchise London. We dwell upon this point because we
believe that if London is ever to be self-governed in the con-
stitutional sense, if it is ever to take its place beside the City,
1 68 LONDON WORTHY OF REPRESENTATION.
and Liverpool, and Edinburgh, and the other free towns ot
the Empire, it must be outspoken, and must act for itself.
There cannot be a doubt that London is the brain of the
Empire. It is the very centre and focus of literature, thought
and journalism; those who know London will admit also
that, for activity, intelligence and every business quality, the
Londoner is -in advance of his provincial brethren. If Dr.
Johnson could affirm in his day, " I will venture to say there
is more learning and science within the circumference of ten
miles from where we now sit than in all the rest of the King-
dom," what would be his testimony now that the population
of that area has trebled, now that the penny post, cheap
journalism, the steam press, and paper duty-free have revolu-
tionized the kingdom of literature, over which he exercised so
despotic and dogmatic a sway ? And who shall dare to aver
that the inhabitants of that area are now incapable of self-
government, or unworthy of being intrusted with the powers
exercised judiciously by their provincial brethren ? The very
suggestion savours of intolerable arrogance, and should stim-
ulate freemen by inheritance to determine to become freemen
de facto. But this — we repeat it emphatically — will never be
volunteered by Government, it will never be obtained until it
is extorted; nor will London extra find hearty co-operation
rendered by more favoured districts, either in the City or in
the provinces, until it shall demand perfect equality of rights
with those districts; for be it noted, the surrender of one
iota of constitutional freedom by the great Metropolis will
be but the signal, the precedent and the excuse, for the with-
drawal of the same share of freedom from others.
It may be assumed as an axiom in this respect, that to
lower the standard, to abate any reasonable demand, will be
DISARRAY OF THE METROPOLIS. 1 69
to court defeat and humiliation. It is not a special favour
which is involved in the demand of Municipal organization,
it is a constitutional right, which cannot and ought not to be
withheld by any Government professing to rule, or Parliament
professing to legislate, in the spirit of the Constitution.
The whole local government of the Metropolis outside the
City's boundaries is an usurpation of popular rights. Govern-
ment by Parochial Vestries, or by a Board of Works, or by a
Prefect of Police, are unknown to, and unrecognized by, the
constitution in reference to even a third-rate town in this
country. The very existence and perpetuation of such a
system amongst a population of 3,000,000 — constituting as
they do one-seventh of the people of England and Wales — is
fraught with danger to our constitutional freedom, is ener-
vating to the manly independence of Englishmen.
Some have selected illustrations of the existing disarray
of the Metropolis by pointing to our never-finished public
buildings, our national " cruet-stands," " pepper-boxes "
and " boilers," our pig-tailed and legless statues, the defective
state of our roads, the insufficiency of our water supply, the
feeble flicker of our street lamps, the fustiness of our public
conveyances, the gradual " annexation " of our open spaces,
and the perils of our streets — all these subjects are im-
portant, doubtless, in every social and artistic point of
view, and might and would be remedied by the establishment
of efficient local organization. But, to our mind, there are
more important and more serious aspects of the case than
even these. We have, in London, the despotic government
of Paris without its brilliancy — the same irresponsible head of
the police without the urbanity to rich and poor which there
tempers his despotism. If we visit Paris, Vienna, or Rome, we
170 POLICE DEVELOPMENTS.
expect espionage as naturally as we look for museums, but we
shrink from it in London, and to be placed on the list of
suspects while pursuing one's lawful calling, to be dogged by
strangers, six feet high and of 'military aspect, reminds one
that we have fallen upon degenerate days, and that English
liberty is not what it was. We tremble for the freedom of
the press — " The bulwark of our liberties," as the Whigs used
to toast it at public dinners — when we hear of a police agent
lifting a proof, as a paid employe, in a London printing estab-
lishment. We wonder whether he has read our lucubrations
as they passed through the press, and if he has reported them
at head-quarters, or whether he is still employed in instructing
the Russian Government how to introduce the paternal
Metropolitan system into Warsaw. We witness with appre-
hension the tunic and the helmet superseding the civil hat and
dress of Sir Robert Peel, the attempts made from time to
time — and only restrained by the voice of public opinion — to
arm the Police with swords. We entertain an old-fashioned
dislike to a Police Commissioner riding at the head of a
Division of Police Cavalry, whether at Hyde Park or elsewhere.
The old distinctions between the Magistrate and the Military
officer — between the civil constable and the soldier — have
been well nigh obliterated during the last thirty years. The
thief-takers, or those who should be the thief-takers, are being
rapidly transformed into a division of the Household Brigade.
The infection, also, is spreading from the Metropolis to the
Provinces, for we read with regret such paragraphs as the
following, in many of the annual reports of the provincial
towns : —
"Colonel W , the Government Inspector of Constabulary for the
Northern Division of England and Wales, inspected the Force on the nth
of May ; the men paraded at the Camp-field, E , in battalion order,
and \itxt put through a variety of military movements ! "
REMEDIES SUGGESTED. I 7 I
Seeing and pondering these things, we wonder when the
jealousy of Parliament will awake to take notice of a standing
army of 25,000 well-drilled soldiers, entirely independent of
its annual vote, not subjected to its Mutiny Act, and prac-
tically in the pay and under the control of the Home
Secretary. We ask ourselves, also, what will be the end of a
system which throws off, annually, thousands of men instructed
in military drill, and composing the lowest strata of the several
forces, to furnish Fenianism, or any kindred disaffection, with
materials prepared for explosion, to the great peril of intro-
ducing another continental institution — the " barricade " —
into our streets. Wrong doing is inevitably followed by
inconvenience and suffering; and if the flagrant departures
from constitutional principles involved by our recent police
developments be not followed by social and political evil, then
all past history has been written in vain.
But to the remedy for all this evil, which lapse of time
has permitted to grow j which the City of London might in
former ages have dealt with piecemeal, had it not been short-
sighted and perhaps selfish ; evil which no Government will
now deal with except by palliatives, by sedatives, by cajolery,
or by delay.
The remedies proposed have been more various than
clearly defined. Some have suggested Paris as our model ;
with an administration, practically a branch of the Im-
perial Government, with a Prefect and Mayors appointed
by and amenable to the will of the Crown. The whole
regulated and presided over by a high official of the
Haussman type, to be intrusted with the responsibilities of
demolishing and reconstructing, of feeding, protecting, amus-
ing or oppressing the people, as the circumstances may
172 THE PARISIAN MODEL.
require; who will appoint the octroi upon food and articles
of domestic consumption, regulate prices, head the police,
determine the character of theatrical performances, watch
over the correspondence of the people as it passes through
the post-office, " regulate " vice,* and perform paternal duties
of censorship for the press. This model of local government
finds some advocates, as is very natural, in the vicinity of the
Home Office and of Scotland Yard, and imitation at a respectful
distance, combined with admiration of its full-blown official
development on the Continent, are not wanting in certain
quarters. The plant is externally attractive, but exotic ; it
could not survive here, even for a twelvemonth ; our con-
stitutional climate would disagree with it, and the inevitable
up-rooting, which must succeed its planting, would destroy
much that it is our wisdom to conserve. Freedom of the press
and of speech, Trial by Jury, the independence of Parliament
and the liberty of the subject, would be alike incompatible
with a central despotism ruling from Whitehall.
Another model has been set before us — the constitution of
" Adelaide in South Australia " is commended as precisely the
thing to suit the metropolis of the British Empire. The
author of this suggestion finds a city on the banks of the
Thames, founded by the Romans before the Christian era, and
furnished by that ingenious people with the germs of Muni-
cipal institutions — a city which wrung a chartered acknow-
ledgment from the Norman conqueror, which has since
withstood the wear and tear of 800 years, and is still
* The recognition of Prostitution and its " regulation " by the State in
our garrison towns, has, since the publication of the First Edition of this
work, been placed under the fostering care of the Metropolitan Police.
Introducing thus another Continental institution, which has made Paris a sink
of immorality, and rendered freedom of the subject impossible in that City.
THE AI-KI AIDE MODEL. 173
young, vigorous and prosperous ; transacting a commerce
within its limits, exceeding that of any city, either in ancient
or modern times, paying one half of the customs' duties of the
kingdom, and employing more shipping than any other port ;
seeking no change but such as the vast lapse of time and its
own wondrous growth have rendered indispensable ; wanting
only more room to trade, and greater facilities for its
ever-increasing population and traffic j without a sign of
decay or decadence ; possessed of a proud history, inspiriting
traditions and associations intimately interwoven with the
biography of the heroic, the great and the good in the past.
He turns, however, from such a city and its experiences, which
have outlived many a monarchy, and witnessed half a dozen
dynasties; and looking round the world for something
stable, lasting and reliable, he lights at the antipodes
upon the object of his search — seated amongst squatting
aborigines and kangaroos — a city with a constitution which
has actually weathered a quci7-ter of a century ; this is held
up as the model for local government of the British Metro-
polis, to put to shame the ignorance of the past, and to
illustrate the profound wisdom of the doctrinaire of the
nineteenth century.
Sir William Fraser likewise has a project. He has
written amusingly and cleverly, if not conclusively, on the
subject.* He would institute Municipal government for the
Metropolis on the old, well-tried and time-honoured fashion.
He has a great respect for the institution of the " Lord
Mayor." He believes in its utility, and thinks that the pres
tige of the title and of the office is indestructible. Yet when
he comes to particulars, and enters upon the details of his
* " London Self-Governed." By Sir W. Fraser, Bart.
174 SIR WILLIAM FRASERS PLAN.
scheme, we discover, if we have clearly apprehended his
meaning, that it is the name and title rather than the insti-
tution itself which he would conserve. Sir William would
confer Municipal government, but the highest functions of
administration he would devolve upon a " Chief Council," to
be elected, not by the people, but by the Common Council,
whilst the " Chief Council " in its turn would elect a Lord
Mayor. The project appears to us to be a cross between the
constitution of the Corporation of London and that of the
Metropolitan Board of Works. It is neither corporate nor
bureaucratic, but shares the inconveniences without the ad-
vantages of either system of administration. " 'Tis neither
fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring," picturesque in appearance,
plausible in theory, but as it regards practical working, it
would, we fear, make " confusion worse confounded."
We hope that we do no injustice to Sir William ; but as
full details are wanting, and he evidently anticipates the
opposition of the City to his " Scheme," we entertain doubts
respecting his intentions to bestow, by it, the powers usually
enjoyed by Municipal Corporations. He says, " One obstacle
suggested against a scheme of this kind is the probable
opposition of the City ; should this be insuperable I am for
organizing London outside the walls." When, let us inquire,
did Sir William hear of opposition, on the part of the
City, to local self-government, in any form consistent with
the liberty of the subject ? He may have heard of opposition
to spoliation of cherished rights, but never of opposition
to any proposal for enfranchising the people. The whole
history of the City has been one struggle for their own rights
and for those of others — from the period when they sheltered
the sons of villains and refused to give them up to serfdom, if
CORPORATION INQUIRY, 1854. 175
they had tarried in the City for a year and a day,* down to
the proud day when arbitrary power striking at the privi-
leges of Parliament sought in vain for the " five members "
who had found safe asylum in the City Sanctuary, on to the
past century within which the City has taken the lead in
demanding — lo?ig before Parliament was prepared to grant them
— the publication of the proceedings in Parliament, the aboli-
tion of " general warrants," the freedom of the Slave,
amelioration of the Criminal Code, repeal of Dissenters'
disabilities, Catholic Emancipation, Civil liberty to the Jews
and Parliamentary Reform. It augurs ill of Sir William's
scheme that he anticipates the opposition of such a City.
The Corporation Inquiry Commissioners of 1854 have
suggested their plan in the following words : —
" Although the City of London is the only part of the Metropolis
which possesses a Municipal organization, there are at present within the
Metropolitan District seven Parliamentary boroughs, each of which, with
the exception of Greenwich, contains a large number of inhabited houses
and a larger population than the City.
"Of those seven boroughs five received the right of returning mem-
bers to Parliament under the Reform Act of 1832 ; and we concur in the
opinion expressed by the Lord Mayor, in his evidence given before our
Commission, that ' as the Legislature has already decided to enfranchise
other portions of the Metropolis as Parliamentary boroughs, the Legis-
lature ought to complete the work by enfranchising them for Municipal
purposes also.' We think, indeed, that if an attempt were made to give a
Municipal organization to the entire Metropolis, by a wider extension of
the present boundaries of the City, the utility of the present Corporation
as an institution suited to its present limited area would be destroyed ;
* If the lord sought to recover his villain who had fled to the City,
he sued out his writ de nativo habendo, but if a year and a day elapsed
before the issue of the writ the City regarded him as a free-man, and
returned answer to the writ, which was held good, " Quod CIVIT* Lond*
EST ANTIQU' CIVIT' ET CONSUETUDINEM HABET ET HABERET A TEMPORE
QUO ETC* QUOD SI ALIQUIS SERVILISCONDITIONISMANSERITIN CIV1TATE
PER UNUM ANNUM ET UNUM DIEM QUOD EX TUNC NON ERIT CAPT'
VIRTUTE BREVIS DE NATIVO HABENDO."
176 THE COMMISSION MANIFESTS CAUTION.
while at the same time a Municipal administration of an excessive mag-
nitude, and therefore ill adapted to the wants of the other parts of the
Metropolis would be created. But we see no reason why the benefit of
Municipal institutions should not be extended to the rest of the Metro-
polis by its division into Municipal districts, each possessing a Municipal
government of its own. What the form of this government should be,
and what should be the number or extent of the districts, are questions
not lying within the scope of our Commission, and upon which we are not
competent to express any opinion." — Report, p. xxxv.
That portion of their recommendation which involves the
incorporation of the seven Metropolitan Parliamentary
boroughs is plainly stated, but when details are approached,
the Commission consider such questions as " not lying within
the scope of their Commission." We are consequently left very
much in the dark as to their views respecting the united action
of London as a metropolis. Indeed, it does not appear that
they were desirous of recommending more than a division of
the Metropolis into eight sections, with a Board of Works
" for the management of public works, in which the Metro-
polis has a common interest," whatever these terms may imply.
The Commissioners impose a condition, however, "that
the plans for the works to be executed should be submitted
to a Committee of the Privy Council, and its consent obtained
before they are carried into effect." Here we have again
recommendations at variance with the practice which exists
in our provincial Cities and Towns, and a determination
manifested to reduce London in point of independence below
the least considerable corporate towns of the provinces. The
-Commission, it will be observed, was composed of three of
the adherents of the Whig Government, and to the peculiar
want of confidence in the representative system which charac-
terises that party, we must attribute the timidity which marks
their recommendations. With what admirable caution they
affirm, " We see no reason why the benefits of Municipal insti-
a commissioner's private opinion. 177
tutions should not be extended to the rest of the Metropolis by
its division into Municipal Districts." Yet they recommend
that when so provided, nothing should be left them to do but to
appoint a Board of Works " of a very limited number of mem-
bers;" but lest these very limited members should have too much
influence, they are to design nothing and to execute nothing
but what shall be approved by a Committee of the Privy
Council. This plan resolves itself simply into a delegation of
all the Municipal functions of the Metropolis to a Committee
of the Privy Council, with the exception of the Police, which is
to be specially handed over to the Metropolitan Police Com-
missioners. Is it surprising that although this Report was
issued in 1854, no individual has been found, within the limits
of the Metropolis, so demented as to ask Parliament to put
its recommendations into operation? It is well known that
the leading Commissioner,* soon after signing the Report,
expressed his opinion to a deputation which waited upon him,
to the effect that no action would be taken upon it, summing
up his personal convictions in the few short but expressive
words, " // is wise to leave well alone." Perhaps he thought
with Lord Bardolph —
" Much more in this great work
(Which is almost to pluck a kingdom down
And set another up), should we survey
The plot of situation and the model ;
Consent upon a sure foundation ;
Question surveyors ; know our own estate,
How able such a work to undergo,
To weigh against his opposite ; or else,
We fortify in paper, and in figures,
* Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart.
I78 mr. mill's proposed bill.
Using the names of men instead of men.:
Like one that draws the model of a house
Beyond his power to build it : who half through,
Gives o'er, and leaves his part-created cost
A naked subject to the weeping clouds,
And waste for churlish winter's tyranny."
And so much for the pretentious but insincere and inconclu-
sive Report of the Royal Commissioners of 1854.
We now approach the consideration of the best digested
and completest attempt at a solution of the Metropolitan
problem which has as yet appeared — we allude to the Bill
introduced into the Report, of the Select Committee of the
House of Commons, on Local Government and Taxation,
1866 — laid before the Committee by Mr. James Beal, a
member of the St. James's Vestry, and which Mr. J. Stuart
Mill, M.P., had adopted and undertaken to introduce into
Parliament. As that gentleman's name gives weight to any-
thing which he undertakes, we propose to devote the greater
portion of our remaining space to a consideration of the
details of the Bill in question. It is entituled, " An Act
for the Establishment of Municipal Corporations within the
Metropolis"
The Bill provides that ; —
1. The area of the Metropolis, as defined in
the Metropolis Local Management Act, 1855
(exclusive of the area of the City of London),
be divided into Ten Municipal Boroughs. CI. 2, Sch. A.
2. These Ten Municipal Boroughs are to
be termed, respectively, Sch. A : —
DETAILS OF THE BILL.
I79
1. The City of Westminster.
2. The Borough of Kensington.
3-
4.
5-
6.
7-
8.
9-
10.
Marylebone.
Bloomsbury.
Finsbury.
Hackney.
Tower Hamlets.
Lambeth.
Southwark.
Greenwich.
3. Each of these Boroughs, respectively, to
be composed of Parishes and Districts, and
divided into Wards, as follows : — Sch. A.
We have added, for full elucidation, the populations of the
several Parishes, proposed Wards and Corporations, also the
suggested numbers of Aldermen and Councillors for each
Corporation.
M
Parishes to be Included.
Proposed Wards.
tfli
2S|§5
St. Ann, Soho
The Bolls
St. Clement's Danes.
St. Mary-le-Strand ...
St. John, Savoy
St. Paul's, Covent ")
Garden }
St. Martin - in - the ")
Fields i
St. James, Westmin- )
ster $
St. George, Hanover )
Square j
St. Margaret
Close of St. Peter . . .
St. John
17,426
2,274
15,592
2,072
380
5,154
35,326
87,771
30,407
823
87,483
256,897
Soho
VStrand
• St. Martin's
St. James
Grosvenor
Knights bridge
Pimlico
< St. Margaret (In.) .
i St. Margaret (Out).
j St. John
Carried forward.
n
54
18
79
51
18 7:
i8o
PROPOSED DIVISIONS FOR THE METROPOLIS.
fi
V c
I!
1!
Parishes to be included.
i
§
i
p.
I
Proposed Wards.
S
■
S
S
if
$
81
3
A
II
2£
1
o £
Is
*
s
ra
§
Chelsea
Fulham
Hammersmith
63,439
15,539
24,519
70,108
Brought forward...
6-]
fi
6
<> r
6
6
«J
<n
9
6
6
8
6
6
6
6)
D
6
0
6
G
fi
6
9
6J
V)
(J
6
6
6
6
6
fi
6 J
54
42
54
60
54
264
21
2
2
2
2
2
2J
2^
3
2
2
1
2
2
2
2,
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
S
2J
21
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2J
18
14
18
20
72
(Chelsea
Fulham
Hammersmith
| Brompton :
{ Kensington
56
M
173,605
f Bayswater
\ Paddington
/ Bryanstone
1 Portman
J Cavendish
75,784
161,680
19,106
to
s
Marylebone
. Hampstead
Saffron Hill "\
72
»
1st. John's Wood
Hampstead
256,570
7,148
22,384
9,867
4,609
17,392
36,684
198,788
Hatton Garden 1
Ely Rents f
Ely Place )
St. Andrew, Holborn 1
above Bars )
St . George the Martyr
St. Sepulchre (minus")
part in City of >
London) )
St. George, Blooms-)
bury )
St. Giles
St. Pancras
St. Luke's
1
c
c
3
«
Bloomsbury
St. Giles
"Gray's Inn Lane
Tottenham Court
Road
i Somers Town
Regent's Park
Camden Town
^Kentish Town
80
296,872
1 Finsbury
) St. Luke's
'
57,073
65,681
1,455
155,341
i
>*
H
b
V.
Clerkenwell
Libertyof Glasshouse ")
Yard j
(Clerkenwell
1 Pentonville
/"Islington
18
72
£
iBarnsbury
< Canonbury
i Highbury
(.Holloway
Carried forward . . .
279,550
88 |352
PROPOSED DIVISIONS FOR THE METROPOLIS.
£a
1
i
3
s .
2
3„
1,
*9
1
Parishes to be included.
i
Proposed Wards.
5
I*
!
r
I!
0
Brought forward...
264
88
352
Stoke Newington ...
6,608
( Stok e Ne w ington . . .
1 Kingsland
8
a
•2
H
Hackney
76,687
Hackney
6
i
<»
H
UW
Shoreditch
199,884
< Hoxton
8
60
8
20
80
d
C Shoreditch
8
•1
( Hackney Road
< Bethnal Green
6
■1
Bethnal Green
105,101
8
2
i
Old Artillery Ground
(.Victoria Park
c>.
2j
317,760
r
2,168
Norton Folgate
Christ Church, Spital- )
fields j
1,873
20,593
Cspitalfields
6
2
Mile End, New Town
10,8-15
Whitechapel
37,454
1
HolyTrinity,Minories
420
St. Botolph, without 1
Aldgate j
St. Catherine, by the 1
Tower J
4,000
208
I Whitechapel!
I
9
8
S
Old Tower, without .
*626
3
Tower of London ...
783
J
S3
St. George' s-in-the- )
East i
48,891
("St. George' s-in-the- )
I East •
9
66
8
22
88
Mile End, Old Town.
73,064
/-Mile End Old Town,")
J w $
1 Mile End Old Town, j
8
9
8
8
St. John, Wapping ...
4,038
{•Shadwell
St. Paul, Shadwell...
8,499
8
9
Ratclitfe
16,874
Limehouse
27,161
Limehouse
8
a
St. Mary, Stratford-)
le-Bow i
11,590
24,077
Bow
8
2
St. Leonard, Bromley
All Saints, Poplar ...
43,529
Poplar
9 J
8J
336,693
r
Putney ,
6,481
Putney
T]
n
Wandsworth
13,346
Wandsworth
8
1
Battersea
Clapham
19.M00
20,894
8
R
•J
a
a
Tooting
Streatham
2,055
8,027
8
54
i
18
•<
V2
1 Waterloo
8
a
Hi
Lambeth ,
!»
:;
Lambeth
162,044
1 Kennington
Brixton
^Norwood
8
8
8
a
a
iJ
232,447
Carried forward. . .
444
5"
592
82
PROPOSED DIVISIONS FOR THE METROPOLIS.
1!
Parishes to be included.
1
|
t
Proposed Wards.
S
fe-
ll
o
0
8
If
o
S
u
as
<
$.
I
•d
11
13
o
M
M
I
&
o
02
Christchurch
; St. Saviour
St. Olave
! St. Thomas
St . John, Horselydown
St. George, South- J
wark j
Newington
Bermondsey
St.Mary.Rotherhithe
Camberwell
St. Paul, Deptford ...
St.Nicholas,Deptford
Greenwich
Woolwich
Plumstead ,
Charlton
Lee
Kidbrook
Lewisham*
Sydenham Chapelry .
. Eltham
17,069
19,101
6,197
1,466
11,393
55,510
82,220
58,355
24,502
71,488
Brought forward...
j St. Saviour
VSt. Olave
( Borough
{ Kent Road
6^
8
6
3
9
9 f
6
6
6
6
6
6J
9^
9
9
6
6
3
3
3.
444
72
48
564
I
1
2
1
1-
2
2
2
2
2
2J
3
3
a
2
1
1
l)
148
24
16
592
(Walworth
( St.Mary,Bermondsey
I St. James.Bermondsey
Rotherhithe
f St. George, Camber-
\ well
j Peckham
Cst. Giles, Camberwell
| Deptford
96
347,301
37,834
8,139
40,002
41,*>95
24,502
8,472
6,162
804
12,213
10,595
3,009
«
Greenwich
ft
64
0)
Sydenham
188
193,427
752
Clauses
4. Of the Boroughs to be incorporated, the
City of Westminster to have its Mayor, Alder-
men and Citizens ; the others their Mayors,
Aldermen and Burgesses. 5 & 6
5. After the first Election each Borough to
be a Corporation, with perpetual succession,
and a common seal, and to exercise all the
* Penge omitted, with 5,015 population.
PARTICULARS OF CLAUSES. 183
Clauses
powers and authorities which Municipal Cor-
porations or their Councils may legally have or
exercise. 7 & 8
6. At the first election of Councillors, etc.,
all persons then qualified to vote for Vestrymen
are to have the right of election. n & 13
7. At all subsequent elections the provisions
of the Municipal Corporations' Act to be
observed. 14
8. Each Borough to have separate Quarter
Sessions, and Queen to appoint Justices of the
Peace. 15 & 16
9. Justices of the Peace to have all the
powers, etc., of Justices in a City or Town
Corporate with respect to licences, etc. 16
10. Each Corporate Borough to have a
Stipendiary Magistracy. 17
11. Present Metropolitan Police Courts and
Offices to be Police Courts and Offices of the
new Boroughs. 18
12. A new Police Court to be established
for the Borough of Bloomsbury. 1 9
13. Borough Police Courts to be Metro-
politan Police Courts. 21
14. Appeals from the Police Courts to the
Borough Recorder, if any, or if not, then to the
Central Criminal Court. 22
184 ' PARTICULARS OF CLAUSES.
Clauses
15. The Corporation may, in their discre-
tion, appoint a Watch Committee, upon whom
it shall not be imperative that they appoint Con-
stables for the Borough ; but no Watch-rate
shall be levied, if a Watch Committee and
Constables be not appointed. 24
16. Her Majesty may appoint a Recorder to
each Borough, fixing his salary ; but the Council
of the Borough may increase such salary. 25
17. Recorder to have jurisdiction of Borough
Justices as Court of Judicature. 26
18. Borough Rates may be made for any
purposes authorized by the Act. 27
19. The expense of the Act and of the incor-
poration of the Boroughs to be paid out of the
Borough-rate. 28
20. Town Halls and proper offices may be
provided. 29
21. Charitable funds may be transferred to
Councils of Boroughs. 30
22. Powers under " Metropolis Local
Management Acts " to vest in the Boroughs. . 31
23. The total number of Members of the
Metropolitan Board of Works to remain as it
now is (45) ; but the numbers to be respectively
elected by the Borough Councils to be (43) as
set forth in Schedule D. 32
PARTICULARS OF CLAUSES. 1 85
Clauses
24. Existing Contracts to remain valid. 36
25. Existing Debts and Liabilities to be dis-
charged by the Council from the Borough-rate. 38
26. Compensation to be made where Offices
are abolished, or Officers removed. 41
27. The Act not to affect the City of London,
or the powers, privileges, or jurisdiction of any
of its Officers. 44
28. The Act not to abridge the powers of
the Metropolitan Board of Works, except as
provided. 45
29. Inns of Court not to be affected by the
Act, except by the transfer of the powers of
Vestries to the Councils of the respective
Boroughs. 46
30. Boundaries and Electoral Franchise of
Parliamentary Boroughs to be maintained. 47
31. Acts inconsistent with this Act to be re-
pealed. 48
32. Section 248 of the " Metropolis Local
Management Act, 1855," only to apply to any
of the Boroughs on the petition of the Council
of any such Borough. 49
33. Difference between Councils of different
Boroughs to be settled by Arbitration. 50
34. The Queen may extend the Provisions of
1 86 PRINCIPLE OF BILL OBJECTIONABLE
this Act to any Parishes adjoining the Metro-
polis possessing the requisite population, upon
petition of a certain number of inhabitant
householders.
Clause
5i
It will be observed that it is proposed by the above Bill to
create ten new Municipalities, including the City of West-
minster. To these ten Corporations are to be extended
generally the powers exercised by Provincial Corporations
under the Municipal Corporations' Act for England and
Wales.
The boundaries of the several Districts to be incorporated
inclose, it will be seen, areas with populations ranging from
347,301 to 173,605 inhabitants.
There is nothing in the principle of the incorporation of
these Districts, or on the ground of their size, populations or
rateable values, to which objection can be taken. Large
enough for all the purposes for which Municipal institutions
exist, but not so utterly unwieldy as a Corporation or Board
for the whole Metropolis would be found to be. The Bill,
therefore, keeps clear of the difficulty judiciously pointed out
by the Commissioners of 1854 (see page 135), in relation
to one administration for the local purposes of the whole
Metropolis.
Upon the whole the Bill may be regarded as the first
attempt to deal comprehensively with the subject ; it is drawn
perspicuously and intelligently, and had it proceeded a few
steps further to provide for the solution of the great unsolved
problem, the few objections which occur as to its details might
have been easily removed. The great difficulty which presents
itself to the mind of every inquirer, is not how local action
ITS OMISSIONS AND DEFECTS. 1 87
shall be obtained in the several Districts, be they large or
small, be they few or many ; the real difficulty — which does
not appear to have been grappled with, as yet, in a compre-
hensive and statesmanlike spirit — is, how shall efficient united
action be secured? It has been avoided as the difficulty when
it ought to have been mastered ; shirked by those who were
appointed or expected to solve it — unless indeed a solution
was dreaded and so not desired.
It is just at this point that Mr. Mill's Bill stops short ;
all is clear as far as it goes, but all is darkness beyond. It is
probably intended that a Supplemental Bill shall supply what
is deficient, but the public will naturally suspend judgment
until they see the whole. Any one, provided with a pair of
scissors, can cut up the map of London into two, four, seven,
or ten portions, but the test of statesmanship will be — who
shall provide for and secure the harmonious and efficient
co-operation of the whole ?
The grand defect of the Bill is the omission of any
cementing power or appliance for the whole Metropolis ; the
great blot of the proposed measure is the attempt to retain the
Metropolitan Board of Works in its existing anomalous position
with reference to London. That Board is not to be affected
by the Bill as to its numbers or constitution ; it is to remain
constituted, therefore, of forty-five representatives (exclusive
of the chairman, who sits ex officio). But Schedule D of the
Bill gives 43 members of that Board to the new Munici-
palities j leaving the City but two representatives in place of
three, as at present, or oifive, which, we have shewn in the last
chapter, is the lowest number to which it is entitled on the
grounds of population and rateability. But assuming that
this is an oversight, and that being pointed out, it should
1 88 HOW IS LONDON TO BE UNITED?
be remedied, the question still remains — how can a Board
of Works, however fairly constituted, form a bond of
union for Municipal London ?
There must arise occasions, and that constantly, when
London will be expected to speak in the name of London ;
unless our legislators intend the first City of the world to
remain dumb in the future. There must arise occasions,
and that constantly, when London will be expected to
receive, to compliment, perhaps to entertain, some distin-
guished personage, foreign potentate, or exalted individual
whom London may delight to honour. There must arise
occasions, and that constantly, when London will desire to
express its congratulations on some auspicious occasions j to
celebrate some great event, social or political, or to confer a
mark of distinction upon some philanthropist, or heroic com-
mander returning home victorious, some benefactor, scientific
or otherwise, of his species, some statesman who shall deserve
well of his country. Is London, under all such circumstances,
to be silent and passive ? Is the Capital of the British Empire
to be the only place in that Empire in which the nation
cannot speak through its local representatives? Or will it
be convenient or becoming, (assuming that all London shall be
incorporated,) that a portion shall speak and act in the name
of the whole. Either alternative is impossible. If Parlia-
ment shall add ten Municipalities to that one which exists,
and no bond of Union be discovered or provided, then London
must (assuming that unanimity exists) utter eleven voices, or
tender eleven congratulatory addresses, or offer eleven recep-
tions, or provide eleven entertainments ; but what becomes of
the voice of the Metropolis of England — unless it is intended
that an aggregate meeting be held in Hyde Park ? What will
CAN IT BE BY FEDERATION ? 1 89
be the feelings or the perplexity of the unfortunate individual
who shall have to make choice under such circumstances, or
to run the gauntlet of all this Municipal kindness? Or
assuming want of unanimity, what then ? Again, is it not
likely that occasions will arise when a Board of Works,
however fairly constituted, will not be able to supply what
aggregate London will need — a Chamber of Commerce, for
instance — which must arise out of the organization of the
Metropolis, even if it be not constituted at an earlier date ?
The City will be chiefly, but not by any means exclusively,
interested in the questions constantly awaiting solution in
such a Chamber.
Again, is it likely that the newly constituted Municipalities
will surrender all control over their Police j and that none of
them will claim to exercise the option offered in the Bill in
reference to the most important right of self-government ?
Is it at all probable that they will consent to occupy a position
inferior to the City and to the Provincial Municipalities ? And
is there any one who dreams that either of these will surrender,
in the latter half of the nineteenth century, what they have
held and most beneficially exercised in all time past ? Where
then is the solution of this and of the other difficulties sug-
gested ? It is to be found only in a representative Corporation,
which should be, for all purposes not strictly local, a federated
Corporation. Under such a Municipality, a united Police ruled
from the centre, with all proper checks which our limited con-
stitution knows how to supply — a Police which should be one
for purposes of co-operation and efficiency, but fairly divisible
amidst all parts of the Metropolis (which it is not at present)
for the prevention of crime and for the protection of person
and property, would be practicable. In such a Police the
190 AGGREGATION OF LONDON.
Sovereign would possess a power of appointment or veto, but
over it the representatives of the people would exercise a
watchful control — as in our provincial towns ; so that abuses
should be kept in check, responsibility secured, and petty
tyranny become impossible.
Such a Corporation should be in a position to provide the
requisite accommodation for aggregate action, public recep-
tions, festivity, and so forth ; such a Corporation should be
possessed of the prestige and weight which name, locality,
antecedents and traditions can alone supply ; such a Corpo-
ration should have acquired administrative capacity by long
years of experience and practice ; such a Corporation should
be able to afford proof that it had been prominent beyond
all other bodies, in reference to Metropolitan improvements in
the past ; such a Corporation should be representative of
the whole, in other words, of aggregate London ; such a
Corporation should embrace within its jurisdiction the
largest amount of population, rateable value, commercial and
trading importance, and a preponderating share of wealth.
All these elements combined in one Corporation would mark
it as entitled to take rank, not above the others, but as primus
inter pares ; the position would be accorded to it naturally, as
of right of precedence ; such a Corporation — whilst others
possessed their Mayors — should be presided over by its Lord
Mayor, who would enjoy the rank and dignity conferred by
law — taking precedence, within his jurisdiction, of every
subject in the realm j such a Corporation should be privileged,
on all occasions of public importance, to go to the foot of the
Throne ; such a Corporation, in short, would be the Corpora-
tion of the City, reinforced by the representatives of the
Metropolis, so as to possess all necessary powers, privilege and
PRINCIPLES SHADOWED FORTH. 19I
dignity, and to become, for all purposes of aggregate action,
the crime da la crime of Municipal representation.
The greater portion of the difficulties which have been
suggested in relation to efficient Municipal action in the Me-
tropolis would vanish before such an arrangement. Men of
sufficient social position, standing and acquirements would
come forward, seeing within their reach the rewards of public
service. Some would be induced to seek the office of Councillor
in the local Municipality, some the higher dignity of Alderman ;
whilst the latter office, leading directly as it should, to the
dignity of Mayor of a local Corporation, would place before
the occupier of that position the possible attainment of the
highest Municipal post in the Metropolis. Such a Cor-
poration would draw to it many members of the Imperial
Legislature ; it has been ascertained that there are no less
than sixty-eight Members of Parliament who occupy offices
within the City; of these a certain proportion would in-
evitably be attracted to take part in such a Municipality, and
thus afford ample opportunity for the exposition of local
administrative affairs in the House of Commons. We purposely
abstain from details in this place. It is principles for which
we are contending, and those principles founded on the
ancient and long tested institutions of the City of London
adapted to their new, enlarged and altered circumstances.
We speak not in the name of the Corporation of that City ;
nor do we know what they may think of suggestions for
which we are alone responsible ; but we know enough of the
public spirit which animates the members of that body to feel
assured that they would rise to the occasion, and take their
proper position — the front, where some one must lead. To
192 THE CITY WOULD LEAD.
be absorbed into a Board elected by the Vestries, to remain
standing aloof if London-extra be incorporated, to submit,
after centuries of independence, to the control of a Board at
Whitehall, would be to them impossible, and, if possible,
intolerable. They would, we believe, march with the times,
adapt themselves to their new position, accept their fresh
responsibilities, and maintain proudly, and perpetuate, so
far as in them might lie, the fair fame, the freedom and
the dignity of their ancient City.
APPENDICES.
i.
REPORT TO COURT OF COMMON COUNCIL IN 1842, OX
THE EMBANKMENT OF THE THAMES, ADOPTED
BY THAT COURT.
20th January, 1842.
" To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Commons
" of the City of London, in Common Council assembled : —
" We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, of your Committee for
"improving the Navigation of the River Thames, and for preventing
" encroachments on the said River, do certify that serious complaints have
"at different times been made to your Committee of various projections
" in the River Thames, occasioning obstruction to the navigation, and
"creating on the adjacent shores deposits of mud and silt, charged with
" the contents of sewers, and with refuse animal and vegetable substances,
1 ' equally offensive to the sight and dangerous to public health. These
"projections, it appears, have been erected not only without the sanction
" of your Committee, but, in some instances, in avowed defiance of their
" authority.
" In order to place the Conservators of the River in a position to
"execute their authority with becoming effect, it was recommended by
" counsel that they should immediately cause a Survey to be made of the
"banks and bed of the River, within the limits of their jurisdiction,
' ' and that a line should be laid down, beyond which all present and future
"encroachments upon the banks should be removed, by whatever authority
13
194 APPENDIX I.
" and under whatever circumstances made, and regardless to whom they
" might belong ; and in order that the Corporation might be placed upon
' ' the highest possible ground in the course they were about to adopt,
' ' counsel recommended that Engineers, of high character and standing in
" their profession, should be employed to act with the officers of the Com-
' ' mittee in carrying into execution the proposed survey, and report
"Your Committee strongly impressed with the wisdom and importance
' ' of the advice they had received, directed application to be made to
"Mr. Walker, the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (a
" gentleman at the head of his profession, and upwards of thirty years
" engaged in engineering works upon the banks of the Thames), to afford
"his valuable aid in the proposed Survey; and they also made a similar
' ' application to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, for the assist-
" ance of Captain Bullock, R.N., one of the Hydrographers of that Board,
"a gentleman who to the high reputation he enjoyed in his profession
" added an intimate acquaintance with all parts of the Thames.
" Your Committee are. happy to say that they were successful in both
( ' applications, and those gentlemen have made a thorough inspection of
"the River Thames through the whole extent of the City's jurisdiction;
" they have likewise, laid down upon plans prepared for that purpose,
' ' lines on each bank, and have accompanied the same with elaborate
"reports upon the state and condition of the River, its existing defects
" and their proposed remedies." — [Report then states approval of Committee
of the suggested plans, and proceeds.] — " Your Committee are of opinion
" that if facilities be afforded, as suggested, a considerable portion, and
"that by far the most important portion, of the contemplated improve -
" ment, lying within the Metropolitan District, may be expected to be
• ' carried into execution at no great distance of time, from the conviction
" which to some extent at present exists, and which is daily increasing, that
" a regular line of Embankment would not only materially improve the
" River as a navigable stream, but would augment the advantages, etc.,
" which private proprietors would enjoy. By this means also, ornamental
" embankments in connection with public buildings and private properties
" may be advantageously effected."
[Report then proceeds to refer to the maps and plans of the proposed
APPENDIX I.
195
Embankment, which accompanied it] and it recommends that they should
proceed — "to remove the nuisances complained of, as offensive to the sight
"and injurious to health, and to put the river in the best condition to afford
"every practicable facility for its free navigation — whether for the purposes
' ' of commerce, recreation, or health. "
Signed,
Henry Burn.
David Allan.
James Lake.
James White.
Wm. Kipling.
Thos. Mitchell.
John Locke.
Thomas Q. Finnis.
Benj. Ed. Brown.
Wm. Croucher.
Richd. Taylor.
Chapn. Marshall.
Henry Patten.
W. A. Peacock.
Richd. Hicks.
James Frisby.
Saml. Unwin.
Thos. Watkins.
Jas. Baldwin.
Geo. Wright.
APPENDIX II.
APPENDIX TO LETTER OF SIR R. MAYNE, 1863.
1. — Area.
With respect thereto : —
The City Police has charge over 725 acres,
The Metropolitan Police over 439,744 acres.
The district of the first-named Force is of course entirely urban ; that
of the second is urban, suburban and rural. The urban and suburban
portions contain 77,272 acres, and the rural, which is contained within a
belt of varying breadth circumscribing the whole Metropolis, has an area
of 362,472 acres. This rural district is much larger than the entire
county of Bedford.
The proportionate areas, taking that of the City Police as unity, is —
For the City Police, 1
,, the Metropolitan Police 606
2. — Population.
The City Police has to protect... 112,063 persons,
The Metropolitan Police 3,110,654 ,,
The population protected by the latter Force consists of 2,691,926
persons in the urban and suburban districts, and 418,728 in the rural.
The population of the rural district is greater than that of the whole
of Lincolnshire.
The proportionate population under the City Police 1
,, ,, ,, • Metropolitan Police 28
3. — Houses, Inhabited and Uninhabited.
The City Police has to watch I4>794 houses,
The Metropolitan 461,845 ,,
The proportionate number of houses under the City Police 1
,, ,, ,, Metropolitan Police 31
APPENDIX II. 197
3. — Amount of the Forces.
The City Police contains 608 men,
The Metropolitan 6,116 ,,
I Ience the ratio of Force to area is —
In the City Police I man to i-fc acres,
In the Metropolitan Police ... 1 ,, 72 ,,
The latter area per man is sixty times greater than the former.
The ratio of Force to population is —
In the City Police I man to 184 person-,
In the Metropolitan Police ... 1 ,, 508 ,,
A Metropolitan Policeman has nearly three times as many persons to
look after as a City Officer.
The ratio of Force to houses is —
In the City Police 1 man to 24 houses,
In the Metropolitan Police ... 1 ,, 77 ,,
A Metropolitan Policeman has more than thrice the number of houses
to guard, compared with the same duty of a City Policeman.
4. — The Cost of the Forces.
The yearly expense of the C ity Police is £,$>> 1 7 2
,, ,, Metropolitan Police ... 400,389
Having effected in respect of the two items parity of charge by striking
off from the latter several sums for special objects, not carried to the Police
Account in the City Statement.
The annual cost of each Policeman in the City Police is ... .£79 4 7
,, ,, ,, Metropolitan Police 65 9 3
Therefore the cost of each man in the City Police is £\-$ 15s. 4d., or
2 1 per cent, higher than for the Metropolitan Officer.
The annual cost regarded as a poll-tax upon the inhabitants of each
district is —
In reference to the City Police £0 8 4 per head,
„ ,, Metropolitan Police o 2 10 ,,
As a tax, measured by the standard of population, it is 194 per cent.
higher in the City than in the Metropolitan District.
5. — Crimes, Apprehensions and Committals.
The number of crimes committed in one year is —
In the City Police District 1,029
In the Metropolitan Police District 11,203
The proportion of crimes to population is —
In the City Police District 1 crime to 108 persons,
In the Metropolitan Police District 1 ,, 277 „
In this relation crimes in the City are upwards of 156 per cent, higher
than in the Metropolitan District.
I9o APPENDIX II.
The proportion of crimes to inhabited houses is —
In the City Police District I crime to 12 houses,
In the Metropolitan Police District ... 1 ,, 37 ,,
In this relation crimes in the City are upwards of 208 per cent, higher
than in the Metropolitan District.
The ratio of apprehensions to number of crimes committed is —
In the City Police District 10 apprehensions to 15 crimes,
In the Metropolitan Police District 10 ,, 28 ,,
But since, as it will be observed presently, half the number of persons
apprehended by the City Police were discharged by the Magistrates, it is
necessary to compare the number of efficient apprehensions, i.e., appre-
hensions which have resulted in bringing the offenders to trial, with the
amount of crime in each district. This ratio was—
In the City Police District 10 efficient apprehensions to 32 crimes,
In the Metropolitan Police District 10 ,, ,, 37 ,,
The proportion of prisoners discharged by Magistrates in respect of
those apprehended by —
The City Police is 1 in 2
The Metropolitan Police is I in 4
If the whole value of a Police were to be measured by the number of
Magisterial committals in comparison with Police apprehensions, it would
appear plain from these figures that the waste of force by the City Police
is double that which is experienced by the Metropolitan body.
The Metropolitan Police are concerned with a much graver class of
crimes, or they get up their evidence more completely (?). Of suspected
and accused persons apprehended by —
The City Police less than one-half axe committed for trial,
The Metropolitan Police., fully three-fourths ,, ,,
The precise number of Criminals who were committed for trial in the
year was —
In the City Police District 321
,, Metropolitan District 2,997
Computing the ratio of these figures to the respective population of
each District, it is found that the graver crimes (?) —
In the City Police District are as 3
,, Metropolitan Police District are as 1
APPENDIX II. 199
TABLE A (To Sir R. Mayne's Letter).
The following Items of Expense should be excluded in estimating the
cost per Man of the Metropolitan Police Force, viz. :
£ s. ,L
Medical attendance and medicines, etc. , for des-
titute prisoners 1,09917 o
Horses, forage, saddlery, etc., and vans 8,491 15 6
Erection and purchase of premises T5,I79 2 2
Refreshments for destitute prisoners and other
small contingencies i>323 I9 10
Extraordinary expenses incurred in the pursuit,
apprehension and conveyance of prisoners .. . 3,415 5 o
Expenses and allowances on special occasions and
on duties out of the district, ,£1,930 7s. lid.,
of which £1,124 8s. 2d. was repaid to the
Police Fund by the parties employing the
Police 805 19 9
Retired allowances to Bow Street Patrol, etc. , are
paid by the Treasury
Retired allowances to Officers of Commissioners'
and Receivers' Departments, also paid by
the Treasury
Police expenditure on account of Her Majesty's
Yards
Ditto Military Stations *
Ditto Dangerous Structures Act
Deficiency of Police Superannuation Fund 42,242 2 10
/72,558 2 1
(Signed) T. H. GOLDEN.
Metropolitan Police Office,
April 25, 1863
200 APPENDIX II.
TABLE B (To Sir R. Mayne's Letter).
Metropolitan Police.
A Statement of the cost of the Metropolitan Police Force, including all
those items of Expenditure which have a direct bearing and reference
to the charge proper for Police purposes for the year 1861.
Office Expenses, including Salaries of Com-
missioners' and Receivers' Departments,
Rent, Taxes, Fuel and Light, Books,
Printing and Stationery, Postage, Tra-
velling Expenses, Newspapers and Adver- £ s. d.
tisements, and small Office contingencies.. 12,522 8 n
Law Charges 590 9 5
Superintendents* salaries 4,344 19 3
*Pay, clothing, and equipment of the Force 357,156 4 I
Medical salaries and funeral expenses 2, 1 88 6 8
Repair of premises, rent of premises, rates
and taxes, furniture and fixtures, cleaning
stations, turners' wares, and other small
charges incidental to premises 10, 162 9 10
(N.B. — The amount charged for rent
is the actual sum paid after de-
ducting ,£5,908 us. id., the re-
ceipts from the police for lodging
money. )
Fuel and light 13,215 5 2
Boats and station ships 279 5 11
£400,380 2 3
Average cost per man .£6595. 3d-
Strength of Force (exclusive of Dockyards and Military
Stations) on the 31st December, 6,116.
* This is the amount of the gross pay, from which deductions are
afterwards made for contributions to Superannuation Fund, Fines,
Stoppages when Sick, etc.
Metropolitan Police Office,
April 25, 1863.
APPENDIX II. 20 r
TABLE C (To Sir R. Mayne's Letter).
City Police.
A Statem ent of the actual cost of the City Police, in which is included
only those items of Expenditure set forth in the Police Account of the
City Chamberlain, for the year 1861.
Salaries of Commissioner, Superintendent, £ s. d.
Surgeon and other officers 3, 1 55 o o
Salaries of Inspectors and
Constables ^"37.215 15 9
Transfer to Superannuation
Fund of deductions from
pay of men, fines, and
stoppages when sick 1 , 1 42 1 6
38,357 17 3
Clothing, hats, caps, stocks and accoutre-
ments (boots included in pay as above
shewn) 2,686 2 o
Lanterns 387 10 o
Expenses of Chief Office (exclusive of
salaries which are shewn above), and seve-
ral stations, including rent, taxes, repairs,
furniture and bedding 3,26713 3
Extra pay to police 52 o o
Funeral expenses 760
Printing and stationery 224 6 o
Law charges 34 6 8
^48,172 2 o
The average cost per man is £79 4s. 7d. Excess of City
over Metropolitan, per man, ^13 15s. 4d.
Strength of Force on the 31st December, 1861, 608.
Metropolitan Police Office^
April 25, 1863.
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*/
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS
ON TIIF.
FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS.
" This volume is devoted to a spirited exposure of the fallacies concerning
the City of London, into which public writers have been betrayed by an inexact
mode of handling those figures of the general Census which relate to its area.
Mr. Scott is very severe upon the statisticians, who, however, should be much
obliged to him for showing them so convincingly how much their methods of
deduction require to be guided by experience. His work, besides being a
recital of particular errors, is an elaborate vindication of the principles of self-
government, and is enriched with facts of real value to those who wish to form
a sound judgment on the questions which arise out of the administration of the
interests of the great central community of the capital." — Daily News.
" Mr. Scott, in a very able book which he has just published upon this
subject, shows that calculations based on the returns of the Registrar General
and the yearly 'Judicial Statistics,' are very far from trustworthy ; we cannot
see by what legitimate process of reasoning the corrections applied by Mr. Scott
can be refused. Other corrections besides those just mentioned are found
necessary, and some very curious inconsistencies are revealed. The battle
rages over the whole field of figures, and a striking illustration is afforded of
the necessity for caution in accepting statistical arguments. True statistics are
of undoubted value ; but strange, indeed, are the consequences of setting
out on a calculation with wrong data." — Standard.
"The Chamberlain of the City of London is a statistician and something
more. There is a fine energetic vigour in his style which we greatly admire.
The way in which he deals with an adversary reminds one rather of a swift
bowler at cricket, with an unerring eye for the middle stump. It must be con-
fessed that Mr. Scott has proved his case completely on all points." — Globe.
" Mr. Scott's ' Statistical Vindication of the City of London ' is a book upon
which great industry and research, and no small amount of literary skill have
been expended, with the best results. For insidious ends both the character
and position of the ancient City, and the management of its corporate affairs,
have been traduced in official documents and in public journals. Mr. Scott's
evidence to the contrary is unanswerable ; and the gravity of his admirably
collated figures is relieved by the playful, and often caustic vein of satire in
which he exposes mis-statements. The volume will well repay perusal ; for
though the subject is not of the liveliest kind, Mr. Scott is so much its master
14
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
that the main points of the argument are brought before us rapidly and
brilliantly ; opponents are tripped up with remarkable dialectic skill, and their
blunders are exposed with much good-humoured sarcasm. So far as it goes it
is, we must admit, a complete and crushing reply to the narrow objections of
the advocates of centralization. " — Morning Star.
" The Chamberlain of London may almost lay claim to one of the old
Homeric appellations, for in one sense he is one of ' the most overwhelming of
mankind.' We know of no other instance in which an elaborate statementw
made by a veteran officer in the public service, has been so thoroughly demo-
lished, torn to pieces, and scattered to the winds." — Morning Advertiser.
"Mr. Scott demonstrates that in respect to religious and educational ad-
vantages the City of London surpasses any other district of similar area, and
he is able, without very much difficulty, completely to annihilate the position,
' that in proportion to population the ratio of crime in the City is in excess of
other Metropolitan districts." It is proved beyond a question that statements
on this head are based in error. Mr. Scott, having disposed of the statistics
upon which opposition and hostility to the City have been founded, proceeds to
deal with the general question of municipal government." — Athenceum.
' ' Mr. Scott has rendered real service in exposing the fallacious character in
many respects of the population returns." — Spectator.
" Mr. Scott sets forth materials for a very clear understanding of the relative
wealth and importance of the old City of London. Mr. Scott shows that though
the number of houses is slowly decreasing in London, the house-value is
quickly rising. Twenty trumpery dwelling-houses, perhaps, are pulled down,
to make room for one great warehouse or block of offices, in which several
hundred busy merchants and their clerks are gathered every day, to conduct
enterprises by which thousands of persons will be benefited. More Customs'
Duties are paid in London than in all the other ports of the Kingdom put
together, and the tonnage of its Shipping far exceeds that of any other single
port, not excluding Liverpool. In a word, London is no longer a place of
residence, but instead, it is growing mighty as a City of counting-houses and
banks, warehouses and shops." — Examiner.
"Mr. Scott has furnished a very complete reply to the erroneous con-
clusions that have been drawn from the results of the last Census, with regard
to the position and prospects of the City. The subject he has taken in hand
would not at the outset appear to be a particularly attractive one, but Mr. Scott
has treated it in such a manner that so far from being of that dry and unin-
teresting character which marks most works of its class, the volume he has put
before us is not only readable but occasionally positively amusing, so that any
one who may be inclined to set about making himself master of the facts and
figures herein set forth, may enter upon the task without the slightest fear of
finding himself bored or bewildered. — We cannot take leave of Mr. Scott
without complimenting him very heartily on the excellent manner in which he
has performed his self-imposed task. His arguments are clear and convincing,
placing those whose fallacies he attacks in a most unenviable position. Coming
OPINIONS OF THE PR I
into the lists as champion of the City's fame and the City's rights, he has made
himself master of the field, and certainly deserves the thanks of all who have
the honour and the well-being of our ancient corporation at heart." — City Press.
" The object of this work is to refute what the writer considers to be the
fallacious reasonings founded upon the figures of the Imperial census, and to
set forth in its true light the relative importance of the City as compared with
the rest of the Metropolis. In carrying out this object a mass of most interesting
statistics is presented, with commentaries thereon, in order to negative the
allegations which have been somewhat authoritatively made that in the City the
population is ' year by year ' decreasing ; that the houses rapidly diminish in
number ; that inhabited houses greatly decrease ; that, consequently, trade
must be declining, and the City decaying. So far from the above being the
case, the proofs herein given demonstrate that trade and commerce in the City
now flourish beyond all former precedent, that street traffic, rents and rateable
value all increase with unparalleled rapidity. Amongst the arguments used by
those who would disparage the City as compared with the other Metropolitan
districts, reference is constantly made to the amount of the City population as
shown by the Imperial Census, in which notice is taken of those only who sleep
in the City, instead of referring to those whose daily avocations are pursued
therein. The information given in this volume, founded as it is upon most
authentic data, is well worthy of the consideration of all who would truly
estimate the importance of the City as compared with the remainder of the
Metropolis."— Observer.
" Mr. Scott, in his admirable work, points out that whilst this scheme (Mr.
Mill's Bill of 1866) is satisfactory as far as it goes, it does not touch the real
difficulty— viz., how shall efficient united action be secured. Indeed, in the first
draft of the measure it was proposed to retain the Metropolitan Board of Works
with those anomalies of constitution which have been repeatedly pointed out to
our readers. Mr. Scott puts the case eloquently and powerfully : — The more
carefully this question is considered, the clearer becomes the conviction that the
Metropolitan Board of Works can, by no conceivable modification of its organi-
zation, fulfil all the requirements of the case.'' — Sunday Times.
" Mr. Scott has taken up his pen, which in his hands is a very formidable
weapon indeed, in defence of the Corporation, and a very good case he makes
out. The Chamberlain, like a true and good knight, not only challenges all
comers, but proceeds at once to show his genius for batde, by assailing every
antagonist of the City." — News of the World.
"Mr. Scott's * Statistical Vindication ' is humorous as well as logical and
accurate, which is rather refreshing in these days." — Echoes from the Clubs.
" The City has no more redoutable champion than its own Chamberlain.
He has at his command a great army of figures, and he handles them like a
skilful general. It is true, as he says, that figures may be perverted to prove
anything, but his figures are so exhaustive of the subject, that fallacy seems
impossible. Mr. Scott attacks the representation of the Metropolitan Board of
Works, complains of there being only forty-five members, and shows that the
fiscal power of one member is greater than that of either of forty-seven pro-
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
vincial Corporations which he enumerates. The seventh ajid last chapter of this
monument of industry and skill discusses the policy of establishing Metropoli-
tan Municipalities." — Parochial Critic.
"Of the intrinsic importance and of the enormous wealth which the City
represents no reasonable person can have a doubt ; and Mr. Scott has abun-
dantly established its right to pre-eminence in any arrangement which may be
made hereafter for the better and uniform government of the whole Metropolitan
district. The Corporation, reinvigorated and enlarged, will rightfully become
the central governing body of the entire metropolis." — English Independent.
" Certainly the most readable book of the statistical family we have met
with. Statistics, when correct, are of the highest value, and furnish a solid
foundation for argument. Too often, however, they are either imperfectly
collected or wrongly interpreted. Mr. Scott's book shows clearly that the most
erroneous conclusions may be drawn from what, at first view, appears to be
statistical truth." — Weekly Record.
" Surely no corporation in the country is so deserving of respect and pre-
servation as the venerable Corporation of the City of London. We might have
supposed that its munificence, its well-proved love of freedom, its boundless
charity, and its loyalty and love for the crown, would have preserved this
ancient and valuable institution, as we deem it to be, from unfair external
attack. In this book Mr. Scott has dispelled a thousand fallacies in relation to
its decadence. The City was never so great, and the Corporation never more
worthy of respect and preservation. This book will possess a permanent value,
for it sheds a flood of light upon the present condition of the metropolis, and
will afford valuable materials to the future historian of the great country of
which the City is the vital and throbbing centre. The volume is the product of
extraordinary research and care, and we know of no one who could have pro-
duced it save the Chamberlain of London." — The Independent.
" Every science has had its empirics — men who, wanting an intelligent appre-
hension of the matter, have brought into disrepute whatever they have touched
to the intense gratification of the sceptical few. And the science of statistics
has had no small degree of odium thrown upon it by the ignorant application,
or wilful misapplication of figures by those who have by this means sought to
establish some foregone conclusion. The work before us is intended to show
up this abuse of statistics, which seems to have been pretty freely indulged in as
regards the City of London. Time and often 'authorities' — Government
Commissioners, Home Secretaries, Registrars-General, Select Committees,
Commissioners of Police, &c. — have come to the most opposite results in refer-
ence to the City as compared with the metropolis and with provincial cities and
towns, and each and all have backed up their conclusions by figures derived
from official sources. It is these that Mr, Scott, in the pages before us, sets
himself to dispel. The individuals who have discovered from the last census
the decadence of the City could not have seen where the bare figures would
lead them to if they proceeded in their illusory investigations. It is curious to
note, however, where they would have landed if they had extended their
enquiries ; Mr. Scott furnishes the clue." — Insurance Record.
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